Brits sitting on £420m worth of soon-to-be useless money

As the new 12-sided £1 coins come into circulation next week, Gocompare.com Money has found that Britain has a collective £420m worth of soon-to-be useless currency in coin jars and glove boxes.

New research commissioned by the comparison site reveals that nearly half (49%) of Brits say they have £1 coins lying around in the house and in their cars - worth a collective £420m.

Those who don’t round-up up their old £1 coins, could lose an average of £17.55 each when the currency becomes worthless in a just few months’ time. 

The survey of 2,000 UK adults found;

18% of adults have £1 coins in pots of loose change lying around their home;

13% say their kids keep £1 coins in their piggy banks;

17% of Brits keep £1 coins in their car to use in supermarket trolleys;

15% of people keep £1 coins in the glove box of their car to pay for parking;

14% say they have pound coins down the back of the sofa.

Matt Sanders from Gocompare.com Money commented, “The new state-of-the-art, £1 coin will be rolled out on 28 March 2017.  Heralded as the most secure in the world, the new coin has a range of security features against counterfeits.

“To allow for the change, from the end of March to mid-October both the old and new £1 coins will be in circulation at the same time and will be accepted by shops and banks.  After 15 October 2017, the old £1 coins will no-longer be legal tender.  

“So, if you’ve got a collection of old style £1 coins in a piggy bank, coin jar or if you keep some in the car to pay for parking or to use to release the lock on a supermarket trolley – you’ll need to round them up and either spend them or pay them into the bank before the October cut-off date. Otherwise, you could be left out of pocket.”