Thanks to the Royal Mint for the new £1 coin. With the old £1 coin there was often the worry it could be a fake.
In Abingdon it was a couple of weeks, after the introduction, until we got any of the new coins.
Not all the machines are ready in time. The leader of the Vale of White Horse District Council was seen in front of one of the parking machines saying that it would not take the new coin yet.
Tesco took the decision to unlock all their trolleys until they could be adapted to the new coin. I did see one trolley in the River Ock. There must have been more.
Now a notice says “… due to trolleys being abandoned around the town and in the river, they will now be locked back up to protect the local area and environment. The trolleys accept old style £1 coins or trolley tokens …”
Here’s a radical thought….why don’t councils & supermarkets just “buy up” old £1 coins and pay out for one machine that exchanges new for old and back again? Surely that would be cheaper than converting every single trolley? Then as trolleys/car park machines are replaced they can be upgraded. Makes sense to me?
For the parking machine issue why not just allow people to park for free until they’ve got around to upgrading them, to me it seems like the users are being blamed for the shortcomings of the Council, after all they have had some time to plan for this and have until October to sort themselves out.
“Use Connect Cashless” ?
Many of us don’t wish to give out our credit card details to an unknown company. Some of us don’t carry mobile phones. Some of us find difficulty seeing the screen of a mobile phone in bright sunlight.
Are we to go home because we can’t park legally ?
Please make it free until this is sorted out.
So remember: vote for someone who –
learns from the past,
lives in the present,
plans for the future.
@ppjs
please, tell us any of the candidates who meet those criteria.
I find myself having to chose the best of a bad lot 🙁
Good question, Lyle! My tongue was in my cheek….
Why use pound coins at all Get a trolley token!