Tom Veitch Passes Aged 96

Tom Veitch, the original founder of Eurocoin back in 1973, died peacefully in a London hospital on Sunday after a long period of illness.

Trained as a draughtsman and mechanical engineer, Tom worked in Hatfield on the wing design of the original Comet commercial airliner. He subsequently entered the world of Amusement and Coin-op after a spell as GM of a vending company based in Park Royal, London, in the late 1960’s.

With an eye on the UK’s planned transition to Decimalization of currency in 1971, he set himself up to help operating companies modify their coin payouts and validators for the new coinage. This quickly grew into a small and successful business, buoyed by demand as imports and exports of amusement games - and the need for currency conversions – grew.

Tom’s design and development of a range of grooved and slotted security tokens for amusement operators to individually use in their AWP operations, truly established Eurocoin in its field and by the early 1980s, almost all UK operators were using Eurocoin products.

Today, Eurocoin Group and associated companies employ over 120 people across eight European countries – a great legacy to Tom’s inspired foresight and innovation.

Tom’s first wife and co-founder of Eurocoin, Eileen Veitch, died in 1995. Tom is survived by his partner of 20 years, Erszebet, and his sons, Colin and Nick.

Photo: Tom on his 80th birthday April 2008

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17 July 2024

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