UK-based ride-on specialist, World of Rides, says it is accelerating production of units using a roll-down coin mechanism that only accepts the new £1 coin after quicker than expected take-up of the new currency.
The firm says income from rides that have now been fitted with the new £1 coin mechanisms are far out-performing those with the old £1 coin mechanisms still fitted, as over one billion of the new £1 coins have now been minted, and eight hundred million of the old £1 coins have already been returned to the banks – two months sooner than originally anticipated by The Royal Mint.
“Right from the start, we tried making a coin mechanism that would accept both the old and the new coins,” said customer support manager, Andrew Robinson, “but it very quickly became apparent during tests that a dual coin acceptor would just allow the cash boxes to become a dumping ground for not only all the out-of-date old £1 coins, but also all the foreign coins and that the public always bring back from their holiday’s abroad, once the old £1 coins go out of circulation completely later in the year.
“As a result we have had to increase our production two fold immediately, and we may still need to increase this even further once the school holidays start.”