The Co-operative Bank has been addressing customers' contactless concerns on its Twitter feed. This followed a BBC report at the weekend about Marks and Spencer customers having money taken from their cards simply because they were in close proximity to the retailer's contactless payment terminals.

M&S insists its systems have been extensively tested and are robust. It recently completed a contactless roll-out to 644 of its UK stores. It is processing over 230,000 of these transactions every week. Fourteen per cent of M&S card transactions under £20 are now completed by this method and a quarter are processed at self-checkout points in the Food Halls.

One Co-op Bank customer tweeted: 'Is there anyway I can get my new @visa credit card reissued without the stupid contactless bit i.e. A normal card?'

The bank replied that it was unable to re-issue a non-contactless card 'but you don't have to use this feature and can continue to use your card as normal'. It added: 'contactless technology is very secure and it's extremely unlikely you'd make a payment in error' and 'For payment to be taken, your card has to be about 5cm from the chip and PIN machine and the machine must be ready to take payment.'

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