Dig deep – for those old pounds

THE changeover to the new £1 coin will not be without a hiccup. Some 40 per cent of car parking machines and drinks dispensers have not yet been adapted.

The new money is being introduced to crack down on fraud. One in 30 of existing £1 coins is believed to be a fake.

Adam Lawrence, chief executive of The Royal Mint, says: ‘These new coins will be the most secure in the world. Even though the old £1 pieces will no longer be accepted in shops after midOctober, people need not panic as you will still be able to swap them for new money at a bank branch.’

Despite this reassurance, now is the time to dip your hand down the back of the sofa, shake jam jars or piggy banks full of change and start spending all those £1 coins hoarded over the years.

An estimated £1.3billion of coins is stored in savings jars across Britain and at least £433 million of this forgotten hoard is in £1 coins.

The new coin bears an uncanny resemblance to an old thrupenny bit, a 12-sided coin that vanished with decimalisation in 1971. But the new coin is packed with features to make it hard to copy.

One of the most impressive is a hologram-style picture on the coin where you can read a ‘£’ and ‘1’ symbol depending on the angle from which you view it.

Another measure to make the coin stand out is a gold-coloured outer ring that is made of nickelbrass and then a silver-coloured inner ring produced from a nickel-plated alloy. The new coin has a picture of the Queen on the ‘head’ and flora of the four nations of the United Kingdom on the ‘tail’.

To find out more, visit the website thenewpoundcoin.com.