Shops to ignore pound coin deadline

Local, national, international and oddball news stories

Shops to ignore pound coin deadline

Postby dutchman » Mon Oct 09, 2017 1:53 am

Trade association says shortage of new coins means they will continue to accept existing version

Image

Thousands of shops are likely to ignore the Royal Mint’s deadline next Sunday to stop accepting the old £1 coins.

A trade organisation, which represents 170,000 firms, has advised its members to continue taking the coin as the changeover period with the new coins has been so short.

Mike Cherry, the national chairman of the Federation of Small Businesses , said small businesses had embraced the new £1 coin as an invaluable way to reduce counterfeits. Many had modified coin-operated equipment while others have separated out millions of old coins to be melted down.

“But the changeover period has been fairly short,” he said. “While no business is obliged to accept the old coins beyond the deadline, it would help if small firms knew they were allowed a short transition period to collect the old coins if they wish to and are willing to bank them - but not give out to customers.

“This would provide a useful community service, allowing customers a few weeks to get rid of the final few pound coins in circulation.”

From midnight on Sunday 15 October, the coins will lose their legal tender status. After this date, shops and restaurants should no longer accept them. With just a week to go, about 500m are still in circulation.

Poundland, the discount shop, said more than 850 of its UK stores would continue accepting the coins until 31 October.

Barry Williams, its managing director, told the Telegraph it was a “no brainer” to continue to accept the old coins. He said: “Providing an extra convenience for shoppers to lighten their pockets while doing the weekly shop rather than making a separate trip to the bank or post office will come as good news.”

Advice for retailers on the Royal Mint website says: “You are under no obligation to accept the round £1 coin from your customers and you should not distribute the round £1 coin. Please update your staff on what they need to do.”

Major banks have said that while they encourage customers to allow enough time to hand in their old coins, they will continue to accept deposits of round £1 coins from their customers after 15 October.

Image


1) I've yet to even see a new £1 coin

2) I'm still being given old £1 coins in change by shops! :clown:
User avatar
dutchman
Site Admin
 
Posts: 50286
Joined: Fri Oct 23, 2009 1:24 am
Location: Spon End

Re: Shops to ignore pound coin deadline

Postby Melisandre » Mon Oct 09, 2017 6:48 pm

I get loads in my change only one old coin in my change last week .
User avatar
Melisandre
 
Posts: 14096
Joined: Fri Oct 16, 2015 8:52 am

Re: Shops to ignore pound coin deadline

Postby dutchman » Mon Oct 09, 2017 7:15 pm

Melisandre wrote:I get loads in my change only one old coin in my change last week.


You'll need that one for the shopping trolley! :lol:
User avatar
dutchman
Site Admin
 
Posts: 50286
Joined: Fri Oct 23, 2009 1:24 am
Location: Spon End

Re: Shops to ignore pound coin deadline

Postby rebbonk » Mon Oct 09, 2017 7:16 pm

I haven't actually seen an old one for quite a while now. I don't think I've even kept any for posterity.
Of course it'll fit; you just need a bigger hammer.
User avatar
rebbonk
 
Posts: 65568
Joined: Thu Nov 12, 2009 7:01 am

Re: Shops to ignore pound coin deadline

Postby dutchman » Mon Oct 09, 2017 7:38 pm

rebbonk wrote:I haven't actually seen an old one for quite a while now. I don't think I've even kept any for posterity.


You'll be screwed then if you need a vending machine or shopping trolley as very few have been converted.

Woman in the chip shop the other day paid with a load of old pound coins, must have been trying to get rid of them.
User avatar
dutchman
Site Admin
 
Posts: 50286
Joined: Fri Oct 23, 2009 1:24 am
Location: Spon End

Re: Shops to ignore pound coin deadline

Postby dutchman » Mon Oct 16, 2017 10:29 pm

Pound coin chaos as parking machines and shops fail to meet Royal Mint deadline

Image

The withdrawal of the old £1 coin was mired in chaos yesterday after it emerged that thousands of parking ticket machines and shops have yet to fall into line with the new rules.

Car parks serving as many as one million motorists a day have defied the Royal Mint's deadline for updating their machines to accept the new coin.

It means drivers who have already spent all their old £1 coins, as instructed by the Royal Mint, are at risk of having the wrong change.

Meanwhile major retailers and food chains including Tesco, Holland & Barrett and McDonald's were still handing the coins back to customers in change yesterday.

This is despite them having ceased to be legal tender at one minute to midnight last Sunday, after which time they became technically worthless.

The Daily Telegraph has learned that as many as 5,000 car parking machines across the UK, which serve around 200 parking spaces each, are still not ready to take the new coins.

And some cash-strapped councils are not planning to update machines for five months until February, the date when it will be compulsory for them to undergo annual maintenance, the British Parking Association said.

Such a delay could result in nearly 200,000 extra parking fines issued over the period, or around 1,200 a day. Some 9 million parking fines are issued every year, BPA data shows.

Last night a spokesman for the BPA said: "We would advise people to carry carry a variety of different change to avoid getting caught out."

Councils are reserving the right to issue parking fines to drivers who say they have been unable to pay for tickets because of out-of-date machines.

But Neil Sargent, motor law specialist at Duncan Lewis solicitors said drivers caught out by this have good grounds to appeal fines if they have not paid for a ticket.

He said: "Machines not working properly is a defense which can be used successfully in an appeal, however it may not always work.

"It is a legal grey area as the old coins have gone out of circulation, meaning the machines should be ready to take the new ones. However as time goes by local councils may decide that people should be aware that parking machines may not accept new pounds and should make sure they have other change to hand."

A spokesman at coin handling firm Maggi Electronics, which updates machines for parking, vending and entertainment companies, said the number of calls it was taking from firms quadrupled yesterday as "panicked" firms realized they had fallen behind schedule.

He added that the parking industry had been "especially slow" to adapt to the changeover.

Meanwhile a raft of stores defying the Royal Mint deadline and changing their policies at the last minute to accept the old £1 coin, is growing by the day.

Now John Lewis and Waitrose have become the latest retailers to soften their approach and will now accept the old coins until Saturday.

John Lewis said: “All our systems and trolleys are ready for the new coin. However, we want to be helpful to our customers and, if they have no alternative ways of paying, we will continue to take old-style coins until the close of trade on 22 October."

Stores accused of handing out old coins as change yesterday said the incidents were "isolated" and put them down to human error.

The Treasury declined to comment on how it would respond to shops flouting the rules by handing out old £1 coins after the deadline.

Image]
User avatar
dutchman
Site Admin
 
Posts: 50286
Joined: Fri Oct 23, 2009 1:24 am
Location: Spon End

Re: Shops to ignore pound coin deadline

Postby rebbonk » Tue Oct 17, 2017 9:31 am

What a c*ck up!
Of course it'll fit; you just need a bigger hammer.
User avatar
rebbonk
 
Posts: 65568
Joined: Thu Nov 12, 2009 7:01 am

Re: Shops to ignore pound coin deadline

Postby Melisandre » Tue Oct 17, 2017 6:35 pm

I ve got a few saved but I rarely use a shopping trolly and if I do its a free disabled one I mainly use a gun where you can pack your bag as you go once
you zap your goods.
User avatar
Melisandre
 
Posts: 14096
Joined: Fri Oct 16, 2015 8:52 am

Re: Shops to ignore pound coin deadline

Postby dutchman » Thu Nov 16, 2017 9:14 pm

Morrison's are refusing to accept old pound coins for no good reason that I can think of? :fuming:

Just another example of what a badly run chain they are and why they're losing customers to Lidl and Aldi in their droves.
User avatar
dutchman
Site Admin
 
Posts: 50286
Joined: Fri Oct 23, 2009 1:24 am
Location: Spon End

Re: Shops to ignore pound coin deadline

Postby Melisandre » Thu Nov 16, 2017 11:42 pm

Morrisons stems from Braford does that explain to you why :lol:
User avatar
Melisandre
 
Posts: 14096
Joined: Fri Oct 16, 2015 8:52 am


Return to News

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 11 guests

  • Ads