A veterinary surgery group has scrapped unpopular plans to go cashless.

The Broadway Veterinary Group, which has two practices in Herne Bay, had hoped to ban cash from April in a bid to “move with the times” and reduce fees and the time associated with the payments.

But the decision sparked backlash from customers with some threatening to take their money elsewhere.

Following a staff meeting, a poll asking the team for their opinion on the decision was sent out with the majority voting against the proposals.

As a result, plans to go cashless have been dropped and the changes will no longer be going ahead.

Director Alex Green told KentOnline: "We did a values session with the team and we put out a poll asking everybody what they thought.

“A lot of people felt the decision was not true to our values of being able to serve the community because there are people who require having to pay with cash.

“We are happy to make amendments to our decisions based on feedback.

“It's inevitable that things will go that way eventually, but there is not a necessity for us to change it yet.

“The fees for paying cash are three times what they are for taking card payments, but that is not anybody else's fault.”

First announcing the u-turn on Facebook, the veterinary group, which has practices in Herne Business Park and The Broadway, said: “We have heard what the community has had to say and we understand your concerns.

“This is something we are able to do as an independent business, ask questions.

‘A lot of people felt the decision was not true to our values...’

“We will no longer be going cashless.

“We are incredibly grateful for your ongoing support, respect and understanding, we are here for you.”

Initially, the decision was made when the business highlighted the extra costs involved in taking cash payments.

It said it has to sacrifice 1% of its cash income to put money into the bank, whereas less than 0.3% is taken from the firm for card transactions.

The group becomes the latest business in Kent to discover moving to card-only payments can prove more trouble than it is worth.

The Glass House in Ashford town centre backtracked on the controversial initiative following a severe backlash to the idea earlier this month.

And in November last year, The Royal Albion Hotel in Broadstairs also scrapped its cashless policy after it led to some customers avoiding the business.