The Courier & Advertiser (Angus and Dundee)
Just one more week left for shoppers and diners to spend round pounds
People have just a week left to spend their old round pounds before the coins cease to be legal tender.
From midnight next Sunday the coin will lose its legal tender status and will no longer be accepted in shops and restaurants.
People have been urged to rummage through their wallets, coat pockets, piggy banks and sofas so they can spend them, bank them or give them to charity before this date.
Around 500 million old round pounds are still in circulation.
They were first launched on April 21 1983 to replace £1 notes. The Royal Mint has produced more than two billion since that time.
Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury Andrew Jones said people have returned more than 1.2 billion of the old coins in the past six months.
Chief executive and deputy master of the Royal Mint Adam Lawrence said: “The round pound has been in circulation for over 30 years but as the deadline approaches, we are keen to encourage everyone to track down their final coins and use them.
“As the deadline is triggered, we are proud that the security features on the 12-sided £1 coin will help to safeguard our currency for years to come.”
The new coin, which resembles the old threepenny bit, entered circulation in March and boasts new high-tech security features to thwart counterfeiters. It follows concerns about round pounds being vulnerable to sophisticated fraudsters.
Around one in every 30 in people’s change in recent years has been fake.
People may find they can still hand in the old £1 coins at the Post Office.
It is also taking part in “Pudsey’s round pound countdown” – collecting old round £1 coins for BBC Children in Need.
Barclays said its own customers can continue to deposit their old round pounds into their accounts with it after October 15 but added: “We would recommend that customers allow sufficient time.”
Rbs/natwest, Santander, Nationwide Building Society and Lloyds Banking Group, which includes Halifax, also said they will continue to accept round pounds as deposits from their own customers.