50 years ago!

Decimalisation!

It was inevitable, and there were huge advantages from it of course, especially in fields of accountancy, IT etc.

There was a transition period where some of the coins were brought in before the day, but this served to confuse some people even more.

I was a visiting officer at the Dept of Social Security in Worthing at the time, dealing with income related benefits, and I spoke to quite a few claimants who were in bits over this, thinking their benefits had been reduced. So much so that I had to take extra tissues round with me  - I called them Housing Benefit hankies.

Further pressure on those on low income was the fact that prices in the shops were routinely rounded up often to the nearest 5 or 10p.  Not significant for larger items, but it mounted up on a food shop.