Check the sofa: 145 million old pounds rattling around

PEOPLE have been urged to check down the back of sofas and break open their piggy banks to find some of the 145million old pound coins that have yet to be returned to the Royal Mint.

Just 24 million have been handed in over the past year and it is feared that many more might be lost.

About 1.7billion were in circulation in March 2017, at the start of a sixmonth transition period that ended with old £1 being discontinued.

The Royal Mint has reassured people who find the coins that they can still be refunded at their nearest bank. The old currency will then be melted down to make the new £1.

“Our communications campaign encouraged the return of old £1 coins when legal tender was removed,” a Royal Mint official said. “The small proportion of coins not returned can continue to be deposited into a customer’s account at most high street banks.

“We expect there to be some returns for a number of years to come as people find these coins.”

An estimated one in 30 of the old £1 coins was fake and the new design, which includes security measures such as a hologram, micro-lettering and a “hidden” feature – which remains a closely guarded secret – was intended to make life harder for counterfeiters.

The new model is also thinner, larger and lighter than the old coin.

About 1.5billion entered circulation in the biggest change to UK currency since 1998, when the old 50p was withdrawn following the launch of a smaller, lighter version. Some 108million old 50p pieces, worth £54 million, were thought to be languishing in purses and coat pockets at the time.