Spending on contactless cards more than tripled in 2014 to reach a record 2.32 billion pounds ($3.53 billion), compared with 653.4 million pounds ($995.5 million) in 2013, according to figures from The UK Cards Association.

According to a news release from the association, U.K. consumers used their contactless cards 319.2 million times last year compared with 100.4 million in 2013.

"With usage soaring every month last year, we’ve seen people flocking to contactless payments as they switch away from cash," said Richard Koch, head of policy at The UK Cards Association. "For retailers, contactless means quicker queues at the tills and greater convenience for their customers.”

Also, according to the cards association:

• 
there are 58.0 million contactless cards in circulation in the U.K., a 52.2 percent rise compared with December 2013;
• the average contactless transaction totals 8.26 pounds ($12.58), as of December 2014;
• contactless fraud totaled 51,000 pounds ($78,699 ) in the first six months of 2014 — just 0.007 percent of all contactless card spending for the period

Currently, contactless purchases are limited to 20 pounds ($30.47), but the limit will increase to 30 pounds ($45.71) in September, according to reports in the British media.