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The British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) said its survey results were “awful” and the worst since it began in 1989.

Elsewhere, a separate report suggested it had been the worst December for UK retail sales in at least 14 years.

On 23 January, official figures are set to confirm the UK is in recession with six months of negative growth.

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The BCC report, based on a survey of almost 6,000 firms which employ 680,000 people, pointed to plunging domestic demand, falling exports and plummeting confidence in the last three months of 2008.

“It is clear that the UK economy is facing a very serious recession, and the downturn is deepening at an alarming pace,” said the BCC report.

“The results highlight a frightening deterioration in the UK economic situation.”

Its latest survey – which covered the last three months of 2008 – showed “no positive features” it added, with both the manufacturing and service sectors worsening.

Manufacturing, home sales and orders, employment expectations, investment, confidence and cash-flow have all hit record lows.

In the service sector, every key area was at a new low.

BCC director general David Frost called for a national recovery plan to be “rolled out as soon as possible”.

“These are truly awful results with the scale and speed of the economic decline happening at an unprecedented rate.

“Quite frankly the last time I saw anything of this magnitude of decline was when I worked in the West Midlands in the early 1980s,” he said.