Shoppers rely on store cards

'We are seeing a lot more cash purchases and the number of store card transactions is moving up,' he said. 'There is a definite trend away from credit cards, and my suspicion is customers are using them to pay their everyday bills.'

His comments come as a poll by GfK NOP showed consumer confidence had fallen to a low last recorded in the 1990 recession amid falling house prices and rising household costs. Around 1.8 million Britons have had their credit card limits cut in the last six months, as was published in the Observer on Sunday.