Demonetizing Pound Coins

Just saw the announcement in today's Independent that the heavy little pound coin will no longer be accepted as currency after October with the advent of what looks another heavy little pound coin, this one with twelve sides.

 

Since I am in Britain at least once a year, I keep a little container of the loose UK change that I wind up with at the end of each trip. I currently have 9 1-pound coins and a 2-pound coin (not sure if they are also going away).

 

I'll be in England in early May. Am I likely to have any trouble spending these old pound coins? Is it really true that banks won't change the old coins for the new unless you have at least 20?

Just saw the announcement in today's Independent that the heavy little pound coin will no longer be accepted as currency after October with the advent of what looks another heavy little pound coin, this one with twelve sides.

 

Since I am in Britain at least once a year, I keep a little container of the loose UK change that I wind up with at the end of each trip. I currently have 9 1-pound coins and a 2-pound coin (not sure if they are also going away).

 

I'll be in England in early May. Am I likely to have any trouble spending these old pound coins? Is it really true that banks won't change the old coins for the new unless you have at least 20?

As they're only going out of circulation in October, and you're here in May you will have no problem spending them.

 

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Just to add that the £5 notes have recently changed and the old ones need using by 5th May this year.

 

http://www.bankofengland.co.uk/banknotes/Pages/about/faqs.aspx

Just to add that the £5 notes have recently changed and the old ones need using by 5th May this year.

 

http://www.bankofengland.co.uk/banknotes/Pages/about/faqs.aspx

 

 

Marvellous. I have two fivers, and will disembark from QE on 8 May, just in time to have them become worthless.

 

 

Anyhow, thanks for the information. All very new to me since we don't demonetize coins or banknotes in the US; you can keep using them until their value to collectors exceeds their face value.

Marvellous. I have two fivers, and will disembark from QE on 8 May, just in time to have them become worthless.

They won't be worthless. If you read that page, you will see this:-

 

What happens if I still have paper £5 notes after 5 May 2017?

All Bank of England notes retain their face value for all time. If your bank, building society or Post Office is not willing to accept these notes they can be exchanged with the Bank of England in London by post or in person.

In practice, based on past experience of note replacements, I expect that banks will probably continue to take old £5 notes or exchange them for new £5 notes for a long time yet.

 

What little I have seen about the new £1 coin also suggests that banks will continue to accept the old £1 coin after 15 October 2017. It is shops and businesses which have been told not to accept them after that date.

Marvellous. I have two fivers, and will disembark from QE on 8 May, just in time to have them become worthless.

 

 

Anyhow, thanks for the information. All very new to me since we don't demonetize coins or banknotes in the US; you can keep using them until their value to collectors exceeds their face value.

 

 

Think tips!!

There will have to be a whole lot of supermarkets that change their policy. At the moment, you put a one pound coin into a slot on the shopping trolley, so that you can release it from the chain that ties it to all the other trolleys. When you return the trolley, you insert a piece of metal (attached to the trolley) into a slot and a one-pound coin is returned to you.

 

Parking meters will also be affected.

There will have to be a whole lot of supermarkets that change their policy. At the moment, you put a one pound coin into a slot on the shopping trolley, so that you can release it from the chain that ties it to all the other trolleys. When you return the trolley, you insert a piece of metal (attached to the trolley) into a slot and a one-pound coin is returned to you.

 

Parking meters will also be affected.

 

This is why the government gave them at least 12 month's notice of the change. Apparently there are a great many bogus pound coins in circulation. A radio program did a feature on it recently and the presenter had at least two in his pocket. Try scraping them with the edge of another coin to see if the colour comes off.

 

Here are the clues:

 

• The date and design on the reverse do not match (the reverse design is changed each year). A list of designs and dates is available here.
  
• The lettering or inscription on the edge of the coin does not correspond to the right year.
  
• The milled edge is poorly defined and the lettering is uneven in depth, spacing or is poorly formed. The obverse and reverse designs are not as sharp or well defined.
  
• Where the coin should have been in circulation for some time, the colouring appears more shiny and golden and the coin shows no sign of age.
  
• The colour of the coin does not match genuine coins.
  
• The orientation of the obverse and reverse designs is not in line.
  

http://www.royalmint.com/discover/uk-coins/counterfeit-one-pound-coins

An estimated 45 million forgeries in circulation.

The new style was announced in the 2014 budget and has been billed by the Royal Mint as "the most secure coin in the world".

So we've known since March 2014.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-38480180

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-26632863

There will have to be a whole lot of supermarkets that change their policy. At the moment, you put a one pound coin into a slot on the shopping trolley, so that you can release it from the chain that ties it to all the other trolleys. When you return the trolley, you insert a piece of metal (attached to the trolley) into a slot and a one-pound coin is returned to you.

 

Parking meters will also be affected.

 

They are hardly an exact science. I have all sorts of coins I use in them. The new coin will still fit, a one euro fits, a Norwegian Krone fits!

In 2013 when we were leaving London, we had a £20 that the private car driver, and restaurant at LHR would not take. We even asked a restaurant customer, if they noticed something different with it and they could not spot anything. We were told to go to an money exchange at LHR to exchange. We did and they exchanged it with another.

Just to add that the £5 notes have recently changed and the old ones need using by 5th May this year.

 

http://www.bankofengland.co.uk/banknotes/Pages/about/faqs.aspx

 

Thanks! We knew about the coins, but we didn't know this info. Luckily we have a cousin who lives in London so we'll pack up what we have and send her a surprise.

Luckily we have a cousin who lives in London so we'll pack up what we have and send her a surprise.

Although strictly speaking that lovely gesture is unnecessary, because the old £5 notes will retain their face value for all time (see above). The problem is only that after a while, shops etc won't take them any more and you need to go to a bank to exchange them, and after a further period ordinary banks will also stop taking them and you will need to take them to the Bank of England itself to get them exchanged for current banknotes.

Well, that's just ducky!! We have leftover pounds, both paper and in coin, from a cruise that we were planning to take with us to use when we cruise out of Dover later this year.

Getting them changed to the new currency before we leave the US would be a real pain, and would surely cost us some fees and service charges. I hope we can go to a money changer in LHR when we arrive there and exchange them for the new bills and coins without too much hassle and expense.

If you still have old £20 notes I think you will have little luck using or exchanging them anywhere at the airport. Maybe try the Post Office. The foreign exchange offices have nothing to gain by offering this service for free (and nothing to lose, if they refuse to do it for you).

 

For the pound coins, I think businesses will also be keen to stop accepting the old coins as soon as they are legally able to, because no one wants to be stuck with fake coins after October.