Legal tender status ending
Customers have less than three months to spend, bank or donate their old £1 coins before they will no longer be accepted.
From October 15 the old coins will cease being legal tender and shops can refuse them.
The new 12 sided £1 coin has taken over levels in circulation for the first time and businesses are being encouraged to get ready and ensure all equipment upgrading is complete and customers are informed.
Andrew Jones, the Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury who was visiting a coin storage facility in Belfast today said: “The clock is ticking. We are urging the public to spend, bank or donate their old pound coins and asking businesses who are yet to do so, to update their systems before the old coin ceases to be legal tender.”
The new coin which is said to be the ‘most secure in the world’ according to the Royal Mint, was introduced in March.
One in 40 old round £1 coins are thought to be fake and the new coin has a string of anti-counterfeiting details including the material inside which can be detected when electronically scanned by machines.
After the deadline date in October most banks and post offices will continue to accept them.
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