Tesco admits some of its trolleys WON’T be ready for new £1 and will unlock thousands of them to avoid chaos
TESCO has admitted that some its trolleys will NOT be ready for the new 12-sided £1 coin when it enters into circulation on Tuesday, so will be unlocking "thousands" of them to ensure there's no chaos.
Around 200 stores will have trolleys that will temporarily require no pound coin, the supermarket said.
A Tesco spokesperson said: "We’re replacing the locks on our trolleys to accept old and new pound coins as well as existing trolley tokens.
"As an interim measure we will unlock trolleys while this process is completed and we will continue to have colleagues on hand to attend trolleys in our stores, so our customers aren’t affected by the changes.”
The supermarket giant said that under 10 per cent of its 2,500 stores would have unlocked trolleys, but that the majority would be ready for the new £1 on Tuesday.
But the unlocking of even some of Tesco's trolleys could lead to a surge in trolley theft, with no financial incentive for people to return them back to the store.
Supermarkets have known that their trolleys would have to be updated to fit the new shaped coin - which has been hailed as “the most secure coin in the world - since news of the coin's launch broke in 2014.
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Since then, trolleys, vending machines, parking meters and even Transport for London (TFL) machines have been modified to ensure they accept the new pound.
Other supermarkets including Sainsbury’s, Asda, Morrisons, Aldi and Lidl have confirmed that their trolleys will be fully converted by next week, accepting both old and new coins.
According to figures from the Automatic Vending Association (AVA), vending machine operators have had to shell out £32million to update their machines to take the new 12-sided £1 coin.
It said that around 85 per cent of vending machines will already be able to accept the new £1 coin when it enters circulation next week.
There have been concerns that drivers will face chaos at car parks, after the British Parking Association said that around a quarter of the UK’s 100,000 pay and display machines won’t have been updated in time.
But the trade association said that motorists “shouldn’t be concerned” as the majority of meters would be ready next month.
TFL also reassured customers that the majority of its 1,000 machines would accept the new pound, and only a "small number" have not yet been modified.
The old “round pound” will stop being legal tender on October 15 this year.
Savers have been warned to use up their stash of old coins to make sure they are not left with currency that shops will no longer accept.
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