Pendle MP Gordon Prentice has called on the Government to save the cheque as a method of payment . The Payments Council Board, which  sets the strategy for UK payments, is tomorrow considering setting a date of 2018 for the closure of the cheque clearing system.

Speaking from Westminster, the MP said: “The Payments Council says the cheque is “terminal decline”. But four million cheques are still being written each day, and many people, particularly the elderly, prefer to pay for goods and services in this way.”

“A decision to phase out the cheque clearing system, even 9 years away, will have an immediate effect on firms’ willingness to accept them. It does seem a bit much, at a time when major UK banks are effectively in public ownership, for them to be looking to inconvenience some of their most vulnerable customers.”