After receiving, and counting, 54,000 1p pieces, the court refused to accept any more. Yesterday Rees agreed to pay the outstanding £110 at the rate of £5 a week — in 5p pieces.

Rees, 41, from Tonteg, South Wales, said after yesterday’s hearing: “I feel it is every person’s right to pay in any denomination he sees fit.”

Tired of the unemployed man’s hefty monthly deliveries, magistrates finally invoked the Coinage Act 1971, which states that bronze coins do not have to be accepted in settlement for debts of more than 20p.

The Act also says that 5p pieces need only be good for debts of up to £5; magistrates may invoke that clause if Mr Rees persists with his small-change deliveries.

Five years ago, Michael Barrymore, the entertainer, paid a £50 parking fine in 5p coins when he was booked for illegal parking in Broxbourne, Hertfordshire.

But that pales into insignificance compared with the French businessman who in 1996 paid 3.7 million francs (then worth about £500,000) in fines and unpaid taxes in one-franc coins. His debt weighed 22 tonnes.

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