Figures from the UK Cards Association have revealed that six contactless payments are made every second in the UK, using ‘tap and go’ technology.
A record £109.2m ($183.8m) was spent on contactless cards in March 2014, which is more than triple the £35.3m worth of payments made using this method in March 2013.
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The latest total figure for contactless spending in March is an increase of £22.2m on the previous month.
Tami Hargreaves, head of contactless at Barclaycard, said that the business expects Barclays customers to spend nearly £600m in contactless payments during 2014, double the amount spent last year.
According to the UK Cards Association, the trade body for the card payments industry in the country, purchases up to £20 can be made in this way, although the average value of a contactless transaction is £6.46.
Managing director of the UK Cards Association Graham Peacop said: “Contactless technology is a fast, easy and secure way to pay by card.”
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By GlobalDataOver 42.4m contactless cards are in circulation in the UK and around a third of cardholders own a card including this technology.
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