It looks pretty simple to me London newspaper seller

Others, though, took the new money in their stride.

"I suppose it will take a bit of getting used to," said one newspaper seller in the City of London, "but I don't think it will bother me at all. I've seen the pictures in the papers and it looks pretty simple to me."

But a fruit-seller was concerned that the two new coins were being brought in ahead of the full range of decimal currency.

"People will get used to a tenpenny piece being worth 24 pence, and then they will have to change their ideas," he said.

Special training

Two of London's biggest stores have given special training to staff in the use of the new coins.

One supermarket manager was optimistic about his customers' attitudes to the changeover.

"I think they've more or less adjusted right away," he said. "I think, though, they tend to regard them as shilling and two-shilling pieces rather than five and ten pence at this time - I think this will take longer."

He added that it would be another six months before price tags changed to reflect the new currency, warning of "absolute chaos" if the change happened overnight.

About 15m 10p coins and 20m 5p coins will be issued to begin with - a small fraction of the number of shillings and florins in circulation.

Lord Fiske, chairman of the Decimal Currency Board, said the coins would be in the minority in tills and in change for a long time.

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