Although the use of credit cards has been widespread for some time, it is only in the last two or three years that the public have become aware of how easy it is for criminals to abuse a system which largely has been based on trust.

A growing number of users have discovered that their credit card number has been employed to purchase a wide range of goods which they first become aware of when they check their monthly bill. In the case of debit cards, this money comes directly from the customer's bank account and can leave them with insufficient funds to meet their regular direct debits.

The bank-card industry, faced with footing most of the bill for this fraud, has come up with a range of measures. One of these is "truncation" - ie, the printed receipt issued by a store or supermarket includes only a part of the number, not all of it as previously, so that if a lost receipt is found the number can't be misused.

However, some stores have yet to adopt this innovation - among them, apparently, many of the branches of Bradford-based Morrisons supermarkets. The company has now been urged to speed up the move to the new system at all its store.

It and other companies in the same position surely have a duty of care to their customers and need to make the switch as soon as possible. Meanwhile, though, the customers should remember that they too have a duty of care to themselves and should do their best not to carelessly discard receipts which might contain their bank-card details.