Never been a fan of the £1 coin

Next year the new £1 coin comes into circulation in a bid to thwart the counterfeiters out there who debase our currency by faking it.

I understood that about 3% of the £1 coins in circulation are forgeries and that something needs to be done about it.

But I have never been a fan of the £1 coin at all.

Get a few in your change and they soon start to wear holes in your trouser pockets.

And the new one will be even worse as it will have 12 edges rather than one long round one. A dozen edges, have of them milled, will do little for the longevity of material pockets.

I know it is only a small point, but it is one worthy of some consideration.

But on a more serious note, it is going to be a financial blow for any business which has a coin-operated element.

The gym I use has 60 lockers all operated by £1 coins.

That is just in the men’s changing rooms.

Presumably there are similar numbers in the ladies’ changing area and there are definitely a whole lot more in the poolside changing area.

Multiply that by three for the number of pools with gyms operated by that leisure trust and then add in another gym and hundreds and hundreds of lockers are going to need updating.

Then there are supermarket trolleys. Hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of them littered across this end of East Lancashire.

The building I am based in has three vending machines, all of them will need changing.

The car wash I use has four coin-operated booths.

The story, inevitably, goes on. And it is compounded by the fact that for six months from March, you will be legally allowed to use either of them.

That is going to be a nightmare for people who work in shops and stores and will only confuse people struggling to get to grips with the new coinage.