An urgent warning has been issued to those who choose to pay for their supermarket shopping with paper cash notes.
Shoppers have been giving a six month warning due to an approaching deadline for certain paper notes that are due to become void and will be rejected in stores.
The Bank of England has given a September 30 deadline which is when current £20 and £50 notes from 2007 will no longer be accepted.
The warning applies to any shoppers who still choose to pay with paper cash in retailers such as Aldi, Lidl, M&S, Tesco, Morrisons. The Liverpool Echo reports that anyone using paper cash in these stores past the deadline will have their transaction rejected.
The paper notes in current circulation were first issued in 2007, and feature the economist Adam Smith.
Polymer £20 notes were introduced in February 2020, with polymer £50's being issued in June 2021, and paper notes have slowly been phased out in exchange for the polymer notes which are more durable. The new polymer notes also have greater number of security features and are harder to counterfeit.
People are able to exchange their paper notes at banks and Post Office branches across the country. The Bank of England will also always exchange old notes for new - even after the September 30 deadline.
Chief Cashier Sarah John said: “Over the past few years we have been changing our banknotes from paper to polymer, because these designs are more difficult to counterfeit, whilst also being more durable.
A large number of these paper notes have now been returned to us, and replaced with the polymer £20 featuring the artist J.M.W. Turner, and the polymer £50 featuring the scientist Alan Turing.
However if members of the public still have any of these paper notes in their possession, they should deposit or spend them whilst they can”.
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