Following discussions with Visa and Mastercard, the grocer said it was increasing the pre-authorisation amount from £1 to £99.

Tesco said the change will help customers keep an eye on their finances.

In the past, when a customer used a self-service pump to buy fuel, the exact cost would only show up against their account balance one or two days later. This could make it hard for customers to track their daily spend.

With these changes, the customer’s bank will pre-authorise £99, with the unused amount released back to their account within the hour.

If a customer does not have £99 available in their account, the pump will tell them how much they have available and allow them to refuel up to this amount.

Previously, £1 was pre-authorised, with the full amount debited later on. This risked customers spending more money than they had available.

Tesco is currently piloting the changes at its Stevenage Broadwater store and plans to roll them out across the UK later this year.

The changes will apply to all providers of pay-at-pump services.