New figures have revealed that high street fashion giants Next and ASOS are holding a combined total of £125 million in unredeemed vouchers.

With families preparing for trips, festivals, and last-minute getaways, consumer experts warn that many may have forgotten vouchers tucked away in their inboxes, wallets, or digital accounts.

Joe Lytwyn, a finance expert at thimbl.com, said: “Vouchers are one of the easiest forms of forgotten money because they are often given at Christmas or birthdays, then quickly buried in inboxes or left in wallets for months.

Next has reported £114.6 million in revenue linked to unspent gift cards (Image: Next)

“A lot of people will be shopping for summer holidays over the next few weeks without realising they may already have £20, £50, or even £100 sitting unused on an old gift card or digital voucher.

“With household budgets still under pressure, taking a few minutes to search through emails and drawers could genuinely save families money this summer.”

According to company accounts, ASOS has £11.1 million in revenue linked to unspent gift cards, while Next reported £114.6 million.

Lytwyn encouraged shoppers to search their inboxes using keywords such as “gift card,” “voucher,” “store credit,” “ASOS,” “NEXT,” “refund,” and “e-gift.”

He also recommended checking old wallets, purses, and cashback apps for leftover balances.

Many consumers also forget about digital vouchers stored inside retailer apps or linked to online accounts they no longer regularly use.

“Many retailer gift cards remain usable for long periods, although expiry dates and conditions vary between businesses,” Lytwyn shared.

“Some shoppers may also have partial balances remaining on cards they believe have already been fully used.”

To avoid losing track of gift cards in the future, Lytwyn suggested screenshotting digital vouchers and saving them in a dedicated phone album or email folder.

He also advised using gift cards strategically during seasonal promotions or sales to maximise value—especially when retailers are discounting summer fashion and accessories.

Experts warn about leaving gift cards unused for too long

Consumer experts have also warned about the risks of leaving gift cards unused for too long.

In the event of a retailer going into administration, gift card holders are often treated as unsecured creditors.

This means they may not be able to redeem or recover the value of their vouchers.

While some may still be able to use their cards while the business continues trading, others would need to submit claims with proof of purchase.

For purchases over £100 made on a credit card, shoppers may be protected under Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act.

Smaller amounts could potentially be reclaimed through a chargeback scheme.

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Lytwyn said: “A lot of people don’t think of vouchers as part of their household finances, but they absolutely are.

“When money is tight, forgotten balances can be one of the quickest and easiest ways to reduce spending without cutting back on summer plans.

“It only takes a few minutes to check, but many shoppers could end up finding money they had completely forgotten existed.”

Will you be taking on this advice for keeping track of vouchers? Let us know in the comments.

Stuart Morris, Robert Fishman and David Soden, of Teneo Financial Advisory, were appointed as joint administrators of the airline on June 3.

All affairs, business and property of European Cargo will now be managed under the watch of the joint administrators.

Meanwhile, it’s understood most of European Cargo’s fleet have been grounded at its main base at Bournemouth Airport in Christchurch, Dorset.

READ MORE: UK holiday operator has collapsed into administration

A statement on the website said: “Stuart Morris, Robert Fishman and David Soden of Teneo Financial Advisory Limited, were appointed joint administrators of European Cargo Limited (“the company”) on 03 June 2026.

“The affairs, business and property of the company are managed by the joint administrators.

“The joint administrators act as agents of the company and contract without personal liability.

“In performing their work in relation to this appointment, the joint administrators are bound by the Insolvency Code of Ethics and regulated by the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England & Wales.”

Our sister paper the Bournemouth Echo has reported staff were told of the administration on a group Teams call on Wednesday.

European Cargo operates flights mostly between the UK and China, including Chongqing, as well as Austria and Norway.

The business operates nine Airbus A340 planes.

Various businesses rely on the goods that the European Cargo planes deliver. It brings goods from China, which is then distributed across the UK including in Oxfordshire.

The most recent accounts for the airline shows that although its turnover increased by 157 per cent, it posted an operating loss of $24,203,000.

Altnets has published a white paper on the infrastructure demands created by artificial intelligence, arguing that connectivity is becoming a key constraint alongside computing power.

Rapid growth in AI use, data centre construction and digital traffic is increasing pressure on fibre networks, backhaul links and supply chains, according to the report. It frames the shift as a practical issue for integrators that design, source and deploy communications infrastructure.

Among the figures cited, global active data centre capacity is forecast to rise from 24.4GW in 2025 to 147.1GW in 2035, based on ABI Research data. The paper also cites JLL estimates that AI workloads could account for about half of total global data centre capacity by the end of the decade.

Mobile traffic is another part of the picture. Citing the Ericsson Mobility Report, the white paper says global mobile data traffic is expected to more than double by 2031 to about 310 exabytes a month, rising to 482 exabytes a month when fixed wireless access traffic is included.

The UK energy system also features heavily in the analysis. Proposed AI-related data centre projects currently seeking grid connections in the UK could require around 50GW of electricity capacity, the report says, exceeding Great Britain’s current peak demand.

Infrastructure strain

This combination of higher computing demand, rising traffic volumes and greater electricity needs is shifting attention beyond chips and servers. Future growth will depend on the availability of fibre routes, optical connectivity, backhaul architecture and supply chains able to support larger, more complex deployment programmes, the paper argues.

Altnets describes the publication as the second paper in a wider series on changes in the connectivity market. The first examined fibre shortages and ways to reduce supply disruption; the new edition focuses on AI as a driver of network demand and infrastructure planning.

The argument comes as governments and businesses place greater weight on digital infrastructure as a factor in economic competitiveness. Data centre growth has already prompted debate in the UK and elsewhere over land use, power supply, planning delays and the role of telecoms networks in supporting increasingly data-heavy applications.

For integrators, the challenge is widening from component procurement to designing networks that can scale over the longer term, the report suggests. Organisations will need to focus on resilience and deployment planning as demand for interconnection and transport capacity rises.

A standalone line in the document sums up the company’s position: “The AI boom is not just a computer story; it is a connectivity story,” said Andy Ainsley, Commercial Director, Altnets.

Supply chain focus

The paper also highlights supply chain resilience as a factor in how the market responds. As more infrastructure is needed to connect data centres, mobile networks and fixed networks, the availability of fibre products and related equipment could become more important to delivery times and costs.

Its intended audience includes organisations involved in building and expanding communications networks, from independent internet service providers to large data centre operators. Altnets is based in Brighton and works with European manufacturers on telecoms infrastructure products.

Ainsley’s background spans telecoms and law enforcement. He studied Manufacturing Engineering at Nottingham Trent University, began his telecoms career at AFL, later worked in UK law enforcement, and then returned to the sector in senior sales and business development roles at AFL, Neos Networks and Hexatronic before joining Altnets.

The report reflects a wider shift in industry discussion around AI. Much of the public debate has focused on semiconductors, model training and the energy intensity of large-scale computing, but network operators and infrastructure suppliers have increasingly highlighted the less visible systems needed to carry growing traffic between users, data centres and cloud platforms.

That includes long-haul fibre, metro links, campus interconnects and backhaul networks connecting distributed sites to core infrastructure. If AI applications continue to spread across consumer services, enterprise systems and mobile networks, demand on those links is likely to rise with them.

In the paper’s closing argument, Ainsley links current investment decisions to longer-term network readiness. “The industry is moving into a new era where network resilience and infrastructure readiness are becoming just as important as capacity itself. Organisations that invest in scalable connectivity and long-term infrastructure strategy today will be better positioned to support the demands of tomorrow’s AI-driven economy,” he said.