A supermarket giant has confirmed that its branches will continue to accept old round £1 coins even after they cease to become legal tender.

Bosses at Tesco have announced that the firm will allow customers to pay with the old coins for one week after the upcoming deadline on Sunday, October 15.

It comes after a similar announcement by bargain store Poundland, which has a store in Burton's Octagon shopping centre, which said it will be accepting the old tender until October 31.

The new twelve-sided £1 coin
The new twelve-sided £1 coin


A spokesman for Tesco, which has branches in Burton, Swadlincote and Uttoxeter, said: "We've been updating our systems ready for the new pound coins, but to help customers who still have the old coins, we'll continue to accept round pounds at our tills and self-service machines for an additional week."

The old £1 will lose its legal tender status from midnight on October 15 onwards, meaning stores can refuse to accept them as payment and can no longer hand them out in change.

Over the last few weeks, people in the UK have been urged to rummage through their wallets, coat pockets, piggy banks and sofas for the old round coins so they can spend them, bank them or give them to a charity before the cut-off date. It is believed that around 500 million of the coins are still in circulation.

The new 12-sided pound coin, which resembles the old threepence coin, entered circulation in March and boasts new hi-tech security features to prevent counterfeiters.

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