In message , at 20:25:50 on Sun, 4
Mar 2012, Clive remarked:
now that banks in the UK have withdrawn the facility to use debit cars
as cheque guarantee cards,

You are a bit confused. Cheque guarantee cards (which have indeed been
withdrawn) are quite a separate concept from debit cards. Even if some
banks had a card which did both.

most firms will now only accept payment by debit card.

I find plenty will accept a credit card.
--
Roland Perry