[Margaret Pilkington]

Yes Gordon, I know this but if you can show that you have been responsible with your information, but the organisation in which you placed your trust has not...then you may seek redress from the organisation. OK, it would be far better not to have the need of this...but that is how it is. You could use your debit card in a shop and the shopp could discard the details inappropriately in their waste...leaving you open to identity theft(this happened a few years ago with TKMaxx).
You can only do what you can do.
Cashy is right there are some situations where you have to have a credit or debit card.
I fought long and hard against getting a credit card, but travelling abroad meant that if I did not have one then many hotels would not take a booking from me.......I remain very careful over my details.......I only hope that the companies I deal with are as careful with my data.....but I fear they are not.