The new £1 is now in people’s pockets but the small change is costing local authorities thousands.

All of East Devon District Council’s car parking ticket machines have now been updated, at a cost of £5,901.

They will accept the new 12-sided £1 and the old style coins until the latter stops being legal tender on October 15.

The authority’s pay-and-display machines processed more than 280,000 £1 coins in 2016.

Devon County Council is in the process of arranging work on its on-street parking machines, which is expected to cost around £40,000.

The upgrade will be completed by October 15.

A county council spokesman said: “Notices will be placed on the machines to alert members of the public if the machine does not accept new coins and this information will be removed as the machines are updated.

“Cashless parking options are now also available at our on-street machines, with the cheaper convenience charge of just three pence, meaning that having the correct change is no longer an issue.”