While the use of personal cheques is in an unprecedented decline, Martin Ruda, managing director of Tall Group, said that the business cheque market is more profitable and has greater loyalty.

The Tall Group of Companies comprises Tall Security Print, based in Cheshire, and Checkprint in Leicestershire. The group provides business cheques, credits and secure documents, as well as electronic payment solutions.

Ruda told PrintWeek: "People who have chosen business cheques have done so for sound reasons. There is a greater perception of control with cheques, they are traceable and you can see the thing as evidence.

"I expect a continued decline in personal cheque use, but there are still situations where it is the only suitable payment method, for example paying the window cleaner."

His comments come as research by Apacs, the payments association, show that the number of payments made by cash in the UK will be overtaken by other ways of paying for the first time by 2015.

New forms of payment are currently being trialled to provide an alternative to cheques, including mobile-to-mobile transactions, prepaid cards and fingerprint technology.

Elsewhere, 3m Barclays customers will be able to press their debit card to a sensor to register a payment in more than 8,000 UK shops by the end of the year.

The 'contactless technology' can be used on purchases of £10 or less, with chip and pin verification being required at random for the transactions.

Speaking about the decline of the personal cheque, Sandra Quinn of Apacs, said: "Those aged in their 20s don't know what a chequebook is, and those in their 30s don't know where their chequebook is."

The first cheque in the UK is thought to have been written on 16 February 1659. The sum of £400 was made payable to a Mr Delboe and signed by a Mr Nicholas Vanacker.

The use of cheques was made easier by modern printing processes, with volumes peaking in 1990.