Some 16 per cent of consumers have walked out of a shop in 2011 without making their intended purchase because of a shop not accepting plastic, according to a poll by YouGov.

Almost two thirds (62 per cent) of people carry £20 or less in cash on them on average, with 48 per cent carrying £15 or less and 35 per cent up to £10. Almost all surveyed (93 per cent) carry a credit or debit card.

The majority (57 per cent), believe that cash will become extinct at some point in the future – with half predicting that this will be by 2035 and 36 per cent by 2025.

Clive Kahn, chief executive of payment processor CardSave says, ‘The days when consumers wanted to pay by cash are over. They increasingly expect to pay by card for everything – from small shops to tradespeople such as painters and window cleaners.’

CardSave’s Small Business Payments Index examined the expenditure on cards per sector over the past year.

Average spend on home improvements was up 32 per cent on February 2011, from £169.37 to £233.10.

Restaurants, pubs and bars saw a 9 per cent decrease in the average transaction value from an average of £32.59 to £29.66, with average card spend on taxis, cabs and limos was also down 8 per cent from £112.24 in February 2011 to £103.03 in February 2012.

The highest card transaction values were in the home improvements and leisure sectors.