Daily Mail

As deadline hits, why we’ve still got 450m old £1 coins

- By Tom Kelly

nEarLy half a billion old £1 coins remain in pockets, purses and piggy banks even though they cease to be legal tender today.

With the treasury saying 450 million of the coins are still in circulatio­n, more than a third of people surveyed said at least half the pounds in their possession were the old round ones rather than their 12-sided replacemen­ts. But those leftover coins can be donated to help make dreams come true for seriously ill children in the Mail’s Quids For Kids campaign.

We are asking readers to generously give them to Make-a-Wish Foundation UK, to help some of the 20,000 young people who are fighting cancer and other lifethreat­ening conditions.

the charity supports young- sters who endure gruelling treatment and have to spend long periods in hospital away from family and friends. those granted a wish have starred in their own films, swum with dolphins and met their heroes.

the Mail has partnered with nationwide Building Society, which will take old £1 coins for the charity until December 20.

Just hand them to the cashier at any nationwide branch, saying you wish to give them to the Mail’s Quids For Kids Make-aWish Foundation UK appeal.

you can also make extra donations there. if you don’t have any old pound coins, you can donate online, by text message, or by cheque (see below).

Some 37 per cent of respond- ents in a weekend poll of 500 people said half or more of the coins in their wallet were the old design and a fifth said they had more old coins than new.

the replacemen­t 12- sided £1 coins are said to be the most secure ever made with a host of design features meant to stop them being copied. an army of engineers has been modifying machines to accept the new coins as part of a process that will cost more than £100 million.

a spokesman for the royal Mint said of today’s cut-off date: ‘the overwhelmi­ng majority of businesses tell us they are ready, and the small minority who choose to keep accepting the old coin, after it ceases to be legal tender, will have to make their own arrangemen­ts to deal with these.’

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