In article  Steve Fitzgerald  writes:
 > In message , Neil Williams 
 >  writes
 > >On another note, though, I would like to see the abolition of the 1p 
 > >and 2p coins as the Dutch have done with the 1 and 2 euro-cent coins. 
 > >There is hardly a need for them these days.
 > 
 > Are they allowed to do that when they are valid elsewhere in the EU?

The 1 and 2 cent coins are accepted but that is just about all.  Moreover,
when paying in cash the total amount to pay is rounded to the nearest
multiple of 5 cent (which is allowed *), so you will never receive 1 and
2 cent coins.
--
* And the rounding occurs even when you want to pay the correct amount using
1 and 2 cent coins.
-- 
dik t. winter, cwi, kruislaan 413, 1098 sj  amsterdam, nederland, +31205924131
home: bovenover 215, 1025 jn  amsterdam, nederland; http://www.cwi.nl/~dik/

MIG wrote:

> Staff were told that we could still accept ½p coins from customers,
> but only in pairs.  This was strongly emphasised and always struck me
> as bizarre.

It sounds like a customer friendly move - "We still accept your out-of-date 
coins" - as well as an way of ensuring people suddenly have, for want of a 
better term, credit that can only be used there.

> Presumably Sainsburys had an arrangement whereby it could cash in all
> its ½p coins by some deadline, but even if staff accepted them not in
> pairs, the entire Sainsburys chain could only ever have been stuck
> with one odd ½p if they ended up with an odd number overall.

Well when would anyone have reason to pay a sum ending in ½p? And how could 
the store convert or give that back in change?

I also wonder what happened to anyone's bank balance that ended in ½p.

MIG wrote:

> > I also wonder what happened to anyone's bank balance that ended in ½p.

> If half the population's accounts ended in ½p that could be a bit of
> extra/loss of money for the banks (about £200 000 between the UK
> banks?), whichever way it was rounded, but I bet that hardly anyone
> either paid or deposited amounts ending in ½p in banks for a long time
> before that.

I'd disagree - a lot of people often put some of their loose change in when 
depositing cheques, at least whilst the banks still allow such deposits. The 
chances of a spare ½p ending up would have been quite strong.