Store owners are being warned that National Identity Cards can no longer be accepted as valid forms of ID.

More than 15,000 people had registered an interest in the £30 NIC cards introduced by the previous government, although it is not known exactly how many were issued before the multimillion-pound scheme was scrapped by the coalition.

The National Identity Register which was designed to hold all the details of cardholders has also been destroyed.

Last year CitizenCard said it would offer to all of the 15,000 people who had paid for a NIC or registered an interest in one, a free CitizenCard worth £15.

Several hundred National ID Card cardholders have to date taken advantage of the offer, which still remains open, CitizenCard chief executive Andrew Chevis said.