<P> Banks received stocks of the new coins in advance and these were issued to retailers shortly before Decimalisation Day to enable them to give change immediately after the changeover . Banks were closed from 3: 30 pm on Wednesday 10 February 1971 to 10: 00 am on Monday 15 February, to enable all outstanding cheques and credits in the clearing system to be processed and customers' account balances to be converted from £ sd to decimal . In many banks the conversion was done manually, as most bank branches were not yet computerised . February had been chosen for Decimal Day because it was the quietest time of the year for the banks, shops, and transport organisations . </P> <P> Many items were priced in both currencies for some time before and after . Prior to Decimal Day the double pricing was displayed as e.g. 1s (5p); from Decimal Day the order was switched to 5p (1s). For example, this order was used on most football programmes during the 1970--71 season . High denomination (10p, 20p, and 50p) stamps were issued on 17 June 1970 . Post offices were issued with very simple training stamps in the same colours as the upcoming decimal stamps . </P> <P> Exceptions to the 15 February introduction were British Rail and London Transport, which went decimal one day early, the former urging customers, if they chose to use pennies or threepenny pieces, to pay them in multiples of 6d (2 1 / 2p, the lowest common multiple of the two systems). Bus companies (at that time many state - owned by the National Bus Company) were another exception, going decimal on Sunday 21 February . </P> <P> Decimal Day itself went smoothly . Criticisms included the small size of the new halfpenny coin and the fact that some traders had taken advantage of the transition to raise prices . Some used new pennies as sixpences in vending machines . After 15 February, shops continued to accept payment in old coins, but always issued change in new coins . The old coins were returned to the banks and in this way the bulk of them were quickly taken out of circulation . </P>

When did britain change from shillings to pounds