I believe the fact you haven't been caught by the random transaction issue is because you use Chip&Pin a lot, which might reset the contactless counter (since it knows that you have the pin, so you're likely the card holder)
When I went to the MetroCentre the other week, I did about 5-6 contactless transactions in a day (probably somewhere around £100 spent total), by the end of the day my card got declined and I had to use Chip&Pin, so it does definitely happen in the UK, though the limits may be quite high (wonder if this may also vary based on the bank, I'm with a certain bank which refused to give me a contactless card until I had a credit check).
This is the first time since I got the card (quite a few months ago) that it was actually declined however, so it's quite a rare occurrence.
As for the EMV spec, It sounds like the terminal is the one that decides whether or not to request Chip&PIN:
During kernel processing, the kernel will determine from the acceptance environment and issuer settings in the card whether a cardholder verification is needed for the transaction. Methods that may be supported are online PIN and signature – offline PIN is not suitable due to the “card in field” timing issues.
what is the kernel?
The kernel contains interface routines, security and control functions, and logic to manage a set of commands and responses to retrieve the necessary data from a card to complete a transaction.
When I went to the MetroCentre the other week, I did about 5-6 contactless transactions in a day (probably somewhere around £100 spent total), by the end of the day my card got declined and I had to use Chip&Pin, so it does definitely happen in the UK, though the limits may be quite high (wonder if this may also vary based on the bank, I'm with a certain bank which refused to give me a contactless card until I had a credit check).
This is the first time since I got the card (quite a few months ago) that it was actually declined however, so it's quite a rare occurrence.
As for the EMV spec, It sounds like the terminal is the one that decides whether or not to request Chip&PIN:
During kernel processing, the kernel will determine from the acceptance environment and issuer settings in the card whether a cardholder verification is needed for the transaction. Methods that may be supported are online PIN and signature – offline PIN is not suitable due to the “card in field” timing issues.
what is the kernel?
The kernel contains interface routines, security and control functions, and logic to manage a set of commands and responses to retrieve the necessary data from a card to complete a transaction.