A quarter of Britons would happily get rid of copper coins for good, rounding up or down to the nearest 5p, according to research published today.

Some 5.3 million of us admit to throwing small coins away, the survey for the Prudential found.

On average, people have £8.45 of loose change at any one time, 25 per cent have had between £20 and £50 in spare coins, and 17 per cent have accumulated £100 or more.

There are 10.13 billion 1p coins and 6.2 billion 2p coins in circulation, according to the Royal Mint.