Drivers could face chaos in car parks when new £1 coin is introduced, as quarter of machines are not ready

DRIVERS are being warned that tens of thousands of car parking meters won't accept the new £1 coin when it comes into circulation next month.

Around a quarter of the UK's 100,000 pay and display machines won't have been updated in time to accept the new 12-sided coin, the British Parking Association said.

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The new £1 coin enters circulation on March 28, and while the current pound coin won't be phased out until October 15, the Royal Mint has already started withdrawing them.

The British Parking Association told the Daily Telegraph that a "big queue" for modification meant that many pay and display machines wouldn't be ready in time next month.

With tens of thousands of machines unable to accept the new pound coin, there could be chaos in car parks across the country.

But the trade association said that motorists "shouldn't be concerned" as the majority of meters would be ready next month.

A spokesman for the trade association said: "The majority of machines will be ready when the new £1 coin comes into circulation, and drivers shouldn't forget that they can continue to use the old pound coin until October."

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Machines which are not updated by March 28 will have to carry warning signs so that customers are aware that the machines are unable to accept the new coins.

It's not just parking meters that have to be updated to fit the new 12-sided £1 coin.

Supermarket trolleys and vending machines are also being modified to accept the new pound.

Last month, the majority of UK supermarkets confirmed to The Sun Online that their trolleys would accept the new £1 coin. Asda, Tesco, Sainsbury's, Lidl, Morrisons and Asda said that their trolleys would accept both the old and new coins.

Vending machines are also being adapted to accept the new pound, but with millions of vending machines across the UK, it is likely to take some time before all machines will accept the new coins.

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Helen Dickinson, CEO of the British Retail Consortium (BRC), said there will be a transition period during which some vending systems may only be able to accept the old coin.

The state-of-the-art 12-sided £1 coin is being introduced as there's thought to be more than 30 million fake round pounds in circulation, so around one in every 30 £1 coin is a counterfeit.

The new £1 should be much harder to forge, and the government has claimed it will be the most secure coin in circulation.

Worryingly, a third of Brits are completely unaware that the old pound coin is being scrapped and a new one will be taking its place.

And almost nine in 10 of us are also unaware of the deadline to spend our old £1 coins – which is October 15.

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