A Covent Garden carolling choir has raised £2,500 in cash-free donations after a bank gave local passersby trial contactless cards to donate with.

In what was essentially a prospective customer hand-holding exercise by Barclaycard for its contactless card scheme, the company gave local shoppers a £5 pre-paid contactless card to test out.

No doubt the harried Covent Garden Christmas shoppers were pleased to be given the £5 card by the bank, but all the money went to the London Community Gospel Choir, which was the only place the card could be used. The choir was singing in aid of the Help a Capital Child charity and novice contactless card-holders were invited to hold their cards over a special ‘collection bucket’ to make the £5 donation.

Head of UK payment acceptance at Barclaycard Richard Armstrong declared the event a “great success”.

“At this time of year shoppers are often caught short of change when they hear Christmas carollers singing on the high street for charity,” he said.

While presently the take-up of contactless cards in the UK is low, there is potential for charities to  use the technology for ‘spur of the moment’ giving at events, like carolling, where according to Barclays people are more likely to have their cards than a few gold coins.