Bromley council has confirm the staggering cost of a £77,000 bill, in order for the borough’s parking machines be converted to accept the new 12-sided £1 coin.
The circulation of the new 12-sided £1 coin on March 28 means the borough’s 250 parking machines need to be upgraded in time.
The Royal Mint have designed the new 12-sided £1 coin in order to tackle the ever growing number of counterfeit coins, it is believed that now 1 in 30 pound coins is fake. The Royal Mint have said that this is the “most secure coin in the world”.
While the new design will no doubt have its benefits, in the short term the sheer cost bill being footed by Bromley council now in order for the update, making this one expensive pound coin. In a interview with Bromley Times, Bromley Councils deputy council leader and executive councillor for environment on the council Colin Smith said “It is going to cost £77,629, which covers the costs of converting the approximately 250 machines, including £5 note readers in the multi storey car parks.
“This substantial conversion work has just started and will be finished in time for the introduction of the new £1 coin.”
The British Parking Association warns what many machines in rural are at risk of not be ready, this means them machine to updated by March 28 will not be able to accept the new £1 coins. Dave Smith, a spokesman at the organisation, also add that some council are no looking into replacing the older cash machines with introducing tap-and-go technology as this could be an cheaper option rather than updating the currently machine to accept the new ££1 coin.
Bromley is just 1 of the total 326 local authority districts in the England that is footing an astounding £77,000 bill to adapt to the new £1 coin. Some Industry chiefs are predicting the over all cost for updating parking machines to accept the new £1 could be as high as £100million, as over 100,000 machines are expected to undergo the update.
– Enfield council have updated all 200 parking machines but not disclosing how much it costed to do so.
-Parking machines aren’t the only ones going to be effected by the new £1 coin; machines that accept cash will need to be updated, this will effect cash machines, vending machines, washing machines and other machines operating by cash.