In message , Roland
Perry writes

In message , at 19:38:01 on Tue, 7 Sep
2004, Paul Terry remarked:
The technical explanations offered are the most likely, but also
remember that if you inserted a lot of coinage you may have exceeded
the limit on legal tender (eg a vendor is not obliged to accept 70 10p
coins in receipt for a 7 pound item).

Except the legal tender rules apply only to settling debts, not to
purchases in vending machines.

That is correct. But as Graham pointed out, a vendor is free to accept
or refuse coinage as he or she wishes. In the lack of any other
guidelines I have known several who use "legal tender" as their own
chosen standard, simply to save argument (and the annoyance of carrying
several kilos of change to the bank).

However, as I wrote, the capacity of the coin holding mechanism is more
likely to be the explanation.

--
Paul Terry