Worldpay processed 44 million contactless payments in the UK in December 2013

"New figures from WorldPay show contactless payments in the UK are rocketing, with 226% more contactless transactions compared to this time last year. Contactless payments have more than trebled (249%) between 2012 and 2013 (from 12.5 million UK payments processed by WorldPay in December 2012 to 43.6 million UK payments in December 2013). There are currently 38.1 million contactless cards in circulation across the UK, making up 25.7% of all credit, and debit and charge cards.
Take up of contactless has been greatest in London with one in five (17%) using contactless cards, closely followed by Manchester and Leeds (12%). However, in Bristol contactless has failed to catch on with only four percent of people using it.
In total, WorldPay customers have made more than 61 million contactless payments with a total cash value of £433 million. Latest transactional data from WorldPay shows consumer confidence in contactless has also grown with the average sale size increasing by 27% in just two years."

Source:  FinExtra, 26th February 2014