In 1897 the United Kingdom passed a law allowing people to use either the metric system or Imperial units for trade. By the late 1960s three quarters of British exports were to countries that used the metric system. However people in the United Kingdom still used imperial units. The Metrication Board was set up in 1969 to help Britain change to the metric system. Each company had to pay their own expenses. Some companies saved a lot of money by changing to the metric system because they could make the same goods for export as they made for sales in the United Kingdom. For example, almost all motor cars use metric-sized nuts and bolts. Other companies lost money because they had to make many changes but did not have any benefit from the changes.
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