A recent investigation has found that one in five UK councils have yet to update parking meters so that they accept the use of new £1 coins, putting drivers at risk of unnecessary fines.
The new coin was introduced back in March earlier this year and from October 15 2017 the old pound coin will be officially rendered obsolete.
Following a freedom of information request, the AA has discovered that 74 of 340 UK councils (21.8 per cent) with responsibility for car parks and coin-operated ticket machines have yet to convert all their ticket machines so that they accept the new £1 coin.
While some councils are currently working on getting their ticket machines updated, it has been found that even by next month 46 local authorities (13.5 percent) will still be causing stress by not having all their machines accept the new pound coin.
Also, 23 councils are yet to convert a single ticket machine they are responsible for to make them compatible with the new £1 coin.
Some local authorities have suggested that visitors to their car parks should use the council’s mobile phone cashless payment systems as an alternative.
The president of the AA, Edmund King, said: “Problems with converting parking ticket machines to accept the new £1 coin are not the drivers’ fault.
“If the machines are unfit for purpose because they can’t take the legal tender for a parking charge at £1.60 or £3.60, that’s the councils’ problem.”
King suggests councils should “either make the car parks free to use until the machines are converted or provide some kind of online means to pay the charge within a reasonable time.”