In message , Peter Masson 
 writes
>
>"Stephen Allcroft"  wrote
>>
>> Todays 5p IMHO clashes with the lower threshold where coins are too
>> small to be convenient to handle.
>
>It is only slightly smaller than the pre-decimal sixpence, which was a
>pretty popular coin. The silver threepence was smaller, and it was unpopular
>(and not infrequently got swallowed in Christmas pudding). One of the
>reasons why it was replaced with the twelve-sided brass coin was that people
>wouldn't use it to pay bus fares, so bus conductors ended up with vast
>quantities of pennies, to the extent that London Transport handled in the
>1930s about 600 tons per year of 'copper' coins.

At infant school in 1969-70 our playtime milk break[1] biscuits cost 3d. 
We were only allowed to pay for them with a single 3d coin, NOT we were 
told in no uncertain terms, in three pennies, as teachers "didn't have 
time to count them all"!

Could you imagine today's press angle on that?!


[1]  This all seems very archaic now.   ;-)
-- 
Ian Jelf, MITG
Birmingham, UK

Registered Blue Badge Tourist Guide for London and the Heart of England
http://www.bluebadge.demon.co.uk