TEST Valley Borough Council spent £1,325 on upgrading its parking machines to accept the new £1 coin - the Advertiser can reveal.

The authority modified its 43 ticketing machines and six spares for the new 12-sided coin, which was released into circulation last month.

The figure is just a small fraction of the £25,000 spent by councils across Hampshire on updating outdated ticket machines.

Eastleigh Borough Council spent the most, splashing out £9,000 on upgrades according to an authority spokesperson.

New Forest District Council spent £8,200 on upgrading lockers in five health and leisure centres across the parish, and more than £1,000 to modify its parking ticket machines.

Farnham Borough Council splashed out a total of £3,260, while Gosport spent just £144 in upgrading its machines.

Meanwhile, Hampshire County Council spent more than £5,000 to update car parking machines.

A spokesperson for the authority said: “Hampshire County Council is not responsible for on street or town centre parking charges but does charge for car parking on some of its own properties, such as country parks.

"We are in the process of updating 24 car parking machines at four country parks – Lepe, Manor Farm, Royal Victoria and Staunton - to accept the new £1 coins, at a total cost of £5,275.

"New car parking machines were installed at Queen Elizabeth Country Park in August 2016, which can already accept the new £1 coins.”

The new 12-sided piece has been introduced to help combat current issues with counterfeit coins.

The Royal Mint, who strike British coins, say that nearly one in every 30 of the old £1 pieces is a fake.

According to the Royal Mint the new coin is the most "secure in the world" and includes high-tech security features, such as a hologram.

The old £1 coin, which has been in circulation for three decades, will stop being legal tender from October this year.