Penny payment settles the pounds

The bill was paid with the coins in a large bucket

A restaurant owner - who was served up 18,000 pennies in payment of a disputed bill - has said he will give the money to charity.

Vincenzo Arceri, who runs Emilio's Restaurant in Durham, said he was forced to call the police after waiting two months for the party of eight diners to pay their £180 bill.

When they eventually agreed to pay, he was escorted to their place of work to be confronted with a large bucket filled with 1p pieces.

Mr Arceri said he did not want to give them the satisfaction of not taking the money - despite not being legally obliged to do so.

He said he planned to give the money away.

I could see the snigger on their faces and I decided they weren't going to get the best of me Vincenzo Arceri

Mr Arceri said: "We went to the offices, up two flights of stairs, they sat us down and said 'there you go, there is your money'."

"It was £180 he owed us, and gave it to us in pennies in a bucket.

"The bucket must have weighed 80-90 kilos. There was no way I could pick it up.

"I could see the snigger on their faces and I decided they weren't going to get the best of me.

"We accepted the money and we are going to donate it to a local children's charity.

"It wasn't so much the £180 itself, it was the principle of it."

'Largest sum'

Brian Capon, from the British Bankers Association, said Mr Arceri could have refused to accept the coppers.

He said: "If both parties agree to accept payment in that way there is nothing stopping them, but the maximum amount of bronze that shouldn't be refused by a creditor in payment of a debt is actually only 20p.

"A person only has to accept that amount... they could turn around and refuse to accept more than 20p in coppers.

"It is the largest sum [paid in pennies] I have heard of, but I'm sure I will have telephone calls to tell me otherwise."