150m old fivers need to be spent … today!

SOME 150million paper £5 notes – worth £750million – will no longer be legal tender from the end of today.

Families will be desperately rummaging down the back of sofas and in piggy banks to make sure they have none left.

The fact the paper notes will no longer be accepted in shops, cafes, cinemas and other outlets could trigger something of a fiver spending spree today.

Some people have been trying to get rid of the old notes, which feature social reformer Elizabeth Fry on the reverse, by selling them on eBay – for £6.

After today, people will need to go to their banks to deposit or swap the old notes with the new, smaller and supposedly indestructible plastic versions featuring Winston Churchill.

The old style blue fiver was introduced in 1957. Since then, its value has been eaten away by inflation.

Research by Lloyds Bank suggests that £5 in 1957 would provide the same spending power as £113 today.

The Bank of England will continue to exchange the old £5 notes for all time, as it would for any other Bank note which no longer has legal tender status. It said some banks may continue to accept the old fiver after today, but this is at their own discretion.

Lloyds, which includes the Halifax, will allow existing customers to deposit the old £5 notes in their accounts. The Post Office said its branches will accept the notes as a deposit into any main UK bank account after the May 5 deadline.

In September, the Bank of England will issue a £10 polymer note featuring Jane Austen.

Value eaten away by inflation