WHEN motorist Ken Bayne picked up a £25 parking fine, he decided to pay up straight away - with a bag of change.

The businessman, who had overstayed his timed parking ticket in Altrincham, presented council staff with £5 in 5p coins, £5 in 2p and £15 in pennies as a protest.

But officials at the Waterside council offices in Sale refused to accept the coins - and called police when he staged a sit-in.

Married father-of-one Ken, 41, a business development manager from Durham, said: "Coins are legal tender and have the Queen's head on them. I just could not believe what happened.

"The council must spend a fortune pursuing people who don't pay their fines and I went to pay my fine with cash in person on the day it was issued.

Royal Mint guidelines say any two parties can agree to accept any form of payment whether it is legal tender or not.

In England and Wales, £5, £10, £20 and £50 notes are legal tender for payment of any amount. But restrictions exist on sums below £1. Coins are legal tender for sums not exceeding £10 in 20p, £5 in 10p and 5p and 20p in 2p and 1p.

Ken, who has pledged to pay the fine at a later date, said: "It is bureaucratic, but it's a very interesting situation."

John Lamb, from Trafford council, said: "The Royal Mint guidance on acceptable amounts of coins in any one transaction has been adopted by Trafford council to assist in keeping the cash handling process within the legal tender guidelines.

"Staff advised Mr Bayne that local banks would be able to change his coins into acceptable tender, but he refused."