London- Thousands of shops are likely to ignore the Royal Mint’s deadline of Sunday to stop accepting old £1 coins.
A trade organization representing 170,000 businesses has advised its members to continue taking the coins, because the changeover period with the new coins has been so short.
From midnight on Sunday 15 October, the coins will lose their legal tender status. After this date, shops and restaurants should no longer accept them. According to the Guardian, with a week to go, about 500 million coins are still in circulation.
Poundland (the British version of one dollar shops) said more than 850 of its UK stores would continue accepting the coins until October 31.
According to AFP, the new coin has 12 sides, and is not disk-shaped like the old one. The ministry said it has security features to thwart criminals, noting that one in every 30 £1 coins in the market has been fake.
The current pound has accompanied the British consumers in their daily lives for more than 30 years, the Ministry of Finance said in a statement.
The new coin is thinner, slightly lighter, and a little bit larger than the newly approved one.
One of the new pound’s faces still feature the photo of Queen Elizabeth II, while the other face features the symbols of England (Rose), Scotland (thorns), Wales (Balls) and Northern Ireland (clover) emerging from the royal crown.
Asharq Al-Awsat
Asharq Al-Awsat is the world’s premier pan-Arab daily newspaper, printed simultaneously each day on four continents in 14 cities. Launched in London in 1978, Asharq Al-Awsat has established itself as the decisive publication on pan-Arab and international affairs, offering its readers in-depth analysis and exclusive editorials, as well as the most comprehensive coverage of the entire Arab world.
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