New £1 has launched – here’s why you need to spend the old round pound as soon as possible
THE new 12-sided £1 coin entered into circulation today, beginning the process of phasing out the old round pound.
While Brits still have six months to spend or take their old £1 coins to the bank, inevitably some people will be left with the old coins after finding them down the back of the sofa, or in an old piggy bank.
But those that have old coins could face a difficult time trying to cash them in after the October 15 deadline.
That's because some banks and building societies won't accept the old £1 coins at all, and those that do will only accept them from their own customers, according to MoneySavingExpert.com.
So if you're left with old pound coins after the deadline, you may need to open an account with a new provider and deposit them there if your current bank won't accept them.
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Steve Nowottny, news and features editor at MoneySavingExpert.com, said: "This is an important warning for dedicated savers and spare-change hoarders alike.
"Empty your piggybanks, upend your coin jars and scrabble behind the sofa to get all your pound coins together – then spend or bank them before October.
"Of course, you’ve a few months left yet to sort it. But it’s worth doing it now – with piggybanks and coin jars in particular it’s all too easy to squirrel money away and forget about it altogether."
Before you cash in your old pound coins, it's worth checking them in case they could be rare or valuable.
There are currently 24 different £1 coin designs in circulation, and some can fetch up to £20-30 on eBay.
For example, the rarest £1 coin, known as the Edinburgh City 2011 £1 coin, is selling for as much as £30 online – thirty times its value.
And if you're keen to get your hands on the new £1, we have revealed the 33 locations around the UK where you'll definitely be able to pick one up today.
WILL THERE BE CHAOS?
THERE are bound to be teething problems as the new £1 coin comes and the old one starts being taken out of circulation. Here are some places where you might have trouble:
- At a train station. Over the weekend eleven out of 18 train providers admitted that they would not be ready for the new coin.
- Parking meters and pay and display machines. Thousands of meters won’t accept the new coin as it will take months to change them over.
- Shopping trolleys. Tesco has admitted that thousands of its trolleys will unlocked as they are not ready.
- Vending machines. Millions of machines won’t be ready and it could take a while until they are switched over.
- On the tube. TFL admitted to The Sun Online last week that around 5 per cent of its machines will not accept the new coin.
If you’re worried about getting into a pickle with the new £1 coin it might be worth keeping a stash of the old ones. You won’t be able to use the old-style round pound after October 15 but you can still change it at a bank after this time.
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