Renfrewshire Council have set aside £100,000 to pay for the upgrade of parking meters to accept a new £1 coin that will be released later this year.
A new £1 coin will be introduced on 28th March 2017, with 12-sides which will make it more secure and difficult to counterfeit with extra security features and although only slightly larger than the current £1 coin, it is both lighter and thinner.
This means that many companies now have to adapt any coin collection machines – for example – machines which dispense parking tickets have to be upgraded to accept the new coins. This is the reason Renfrewshire Council have put aside £100,000 to deal with this changeover.
SNP Councillor for Paisley North West, Mags MacLaren has criticised the costs and feels the money would be better spent elsewhere.
Councillor MacLaren said: “It’s bad enough that the UK Government is cutting Scotland’s budget without imposing further costs on councils including having to deal with the introduction of a new £1 coin.”
“I’m not sure how many people are actual aware of the new £1 coin coming into circulation and I was surprised when reading the council’s budget papers that up to £100,000 may be needed to deal with this changeover.
“This is £100,000 that could be better used on local services.
“The existing £1 coins go out of circulation between March and October this year, and by 16th October businesses will no longer have to accept the current £1 coin.”
Related link: New 12-sided pound coin to enter circulation in March, but you’ve got until October to spend old coins
The current £1 coin was introduced about 30 years ago but it is estimated that one in thirty coins in circulation is a counterfeit, which led to plans for the new coin by HM Treasury.
From the 15th October you will no longer be able to use the old coin and the public are being urged to use or bank them them before they lose their legal tender status.
The UK government estimates around a third of the £1.3 billion worth of coins stored in piggy banks will be the old style £1 coins.
Security of new coin:
- 12-sided – its distinctive shape means it stands out by sight and by touch
- Bimetallic – The outer ring is gold coloured (nickel-brass) and the inner ring is silver coloured (nickel-plated alloy)
- Latent image – it has an image like a hologram that changes from a ‘£’ symbol to the number ‘1’ when the coin is seen from different angles
- Micro-lettering – around the rim on the heads side of the coin tiny lettering reads: ONE POUND. On the tails side you can find the year the coin was produced
- Milled edges – it has grooves on alternate sides
- Hidden high security feature – an additional security feature is built into the coin to protect it from counterfeiting but details have not been revealed
