British consumers will make a ‘significant shift’ towards contactless payment in the next 12 months, says a credit and debit card supplier. Barclaycard expects to have distributed one million contactless cards, which enable customers to make purchases of less than £10 without Chip and PIN, by the end of this year. It says more than 6,000 retailers, including c-stores, have adopted the company’s technology since September last year. The company has also taken part in a six-month trial of contactless payments via mobile phones. Mobile operator O2 piloted a Near Field Communications-enabled handset which can be used to pay for small purchases in shops. However, O2 said it that was likely to be five years before the UK saw a full rollout of the technology.