The British have proved themselves less than thrilled with telephone banking, according to a new YouGov poll.

Nearly two thirds of those questioned either do not use, or actively shun, a telephone banking system, the research found.

Barely a quarter of those who use telephone banking consider the service to be 'very good', and the same percentage has stopped using telephone banking because of poor service.

"This is a wake up call for banks, and it is not a case for them to quit while they're behind," said David Crisp, chief executive at voice authentication manufacturer VoiceVault which commissioned the survey.

"Customers are crying out for a better, more secure service and banks can and must provide it."

Nearly one in five of those questioned would use telephone banking if the service improved, but this rose to almost a quarter for 18-29 year olds. This latter group was also the first to give up on such services, with more than one in 10 quitting after one attempt.

The main gripe with telephone banking is not being able to talk to someone directly. Over half find this a major problem, and nearly a third have problems remembering their Pin and 16 per cent are unhappy giving out personal information over the phone.

Geography and social class were also important factors in the use of such systems. Around a third of those classified as ABC1 had never used telephone banking, compared to nearly half of those in the C2D2 classification.

Those in Wales and the Midlands had the highest number of non-users at 42 per cent.