Stores to carry on accepting old style pound coins

TESCO has joined Poundland in announcing it will continue to take the old style round pound coins after they cease to become legal tender.

The deadline for use as imposed by the Royal Mint is October 15 but both retail giants have said they will accept the round pounds after this.

Customers will still be able to use the coins at Tesco for a week after the deadline while Poundland say they will accept the coins until October 31. A Tesco spokesman said: “We’ve been updating our systems ready for the new pound coins but to help customers who still have the old coins, we’ll continue to accept round pounds at our tills and selfservice machines for an additional week.”

From midnight on Sunday October 15, the round pound will lose its legal tender status, meaning stores cannot hand out old pound coins as change and can refuse to accept them as payment.

People have been urged to rummage through their wallets, coat pockets, piggy banks and sofas so that they can spend them, bank them or give them to charity before this date.

But as well as Tesco and Poundland, the Federation of Small Businesses has advised members to continue accepting the round coins as a “useful community service” to customers.

Around 500 million old round pounds are believed to still be in circulation.

The new 12-sided pound coin, which resembles the old threepenny bit, entered circulation in March and boasts new high-tech security features to thwart counterfeiters.

The production of the new coins followed concerns about round pounds being vulnerable to sophisticated counterfeiters. Around one in every 30 oldstyle pound coins in people’s change in recent years has been fake.

All major banks will accept and exchange the round coins, as well as the Post Office. Many charities have also said they will welcome the coinage.