The contactless revolution has swept up pensioners to push the value of card payments above cash for the first time, new industry figures show.

The number of over-65s embracing tap-and-go technology has soared, boosting card transactions to become Britain’s primary payment choice

Appearing to shrug off concerns over the security of PIN-free transactions, more than half of older shoppers now use contactless regularly, trade association statistics reveal.

Debit card payments totalling 13.2 billion eclipsed the 13.1 billion payments made in cash in the United Kingdom last year, with supermarkets being the most popular place to use contactless technology.

Cash is now the second most common form of payment and is predicted to make up just 36 per cent of transactions in ten years’ time. Between 2016 and 2017, contactless payments increased by 97 per cent.