Most UK businesses would gladly stop accepting cash from customers, a new study has found.

Of 1,200 business owners asked, 86% said they preferred card or contactless to cash – while 52% said they would like to stop handling coins and notes altogether.

And 61% said they would like to see contactless payment caps – which Chancellor Rishi Sunak raised the limit to £100 in his Spring Budget – increased further or removed.

The survey also asked various sectors how many of their in-store transactions were by card.

Top industries for plastic payment were transport (93% card), retail (89%), travel (87%), food and drink (75%) and hospitality and entertainment (66%).

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Of those who would happily see the back of cash, roughly half (51%) said they didn't want cash on site and almost a third (30%) wanted fewer trips to the bank.

Asked whether they had seen customer attitudes to payment change since the pandemic began, almost all (95%) agreed that they had.

And a third (34%) said customers were apologetic when having to pay in cash.

Libby James, co-founder of surveyors Merchant Advice Service who conducted the survey, said: "Contactless payments have been incredibly popular from the moment they became an option.

"But with everything that’s happened over the course of the past year, we’ve definitely seen a shift in less and less people carrying cash on them than ever before."

She added: "The results here definitely show the need for a further contactless payment cap increase, even though we’ve just had one, or for it to be removed altogether.

"That being said, the payment cap does offer some level of safety and security to the bank account owner and processes would need to be in place beforehand to ensure everyone’s money is as safe as possible – especially if their card were to be lost and fall into the wrong hands."