New £1 coin costing Yorkshire councils a small fortune

An investigation by The Yorkshire Post has revealed that at least £197,691 has been spent on making sure meters accept the new 12-sided tender, with a further £159,225 due to be spent for machines not yet converted by local authorities in the county.

However, some councils in the region did not disclose how many machines they had worked on or the sum spent.

Sheffield City Council’s bill was highest, with a £71,700 cost for converting its 489 machines – the largest number in Yorkshire. The authority declined to comment on the figure.

Calderdale Council was due to begin work during this month, with a projected sum of £52,500.

And Leeds City Council had the third highest sum in the region - though it spent the most of the three on average per meter so far at £172 - with £42,728 to convert 248 machines.

Additionally, 1,385 lockers at council-run leisure centres in the city have been changed to take the new pound coin, with a further 1,137 in the process of being converted.

The cost of the lockers converted to date is £6,170 and £19,458 will be spent on those which need to be worked on.

A spokesman for Leeds City Council said: “The introduction of the new £1 coins has meant that some adaptations have had to be made to coin operated council facilities.

“Whist this work does carry a cost, it is essential in ensuring customers can use the new coins to pay for parking or in lockers at our leisure centres.

“The new coin has also been designed to reduce the number of fake £1 coins in circulation.

“We would like to remind customers that the old, round pound will cease to be legal tender on October 15.”

Calderdale Council’s director of economy and environment, Mark Thompson, said: “We have over 250 parking machines in Calderdale and we 
expect all of these to be ready to accept the new pound coins by mid-June.”

But he said it would be “unwise” to compare total costs per borough “without more analysis of cost per machine and other local factors”.

Aside from Calderdale, of those that responded to the FoI requests fully North Yorkshire County Council and Scarborough Borough Council were the only authorities to say that none of their parking payment machines had been converted before May. Calderdale’s projected total cost for work starting this month is £40,750. Upgrades in Scarborough have been ordered but no date was given for the conversion of its 158 machines.

And the City of York Council revealed high costs, with around £25,000 spent on changing only 98 meters - approximately £255 per machine.

The new 12-sided coin became legal tender on March 28 this year as its final model was decided after a ten-week public consultation.