Don’t tumble dry a new £5 note! Here’s what happens when you leave the new fiver in a hot place

THE new fivers aren’t quite as indestructible as we once thought.

The £5 notes entered circulation last month, with the Bank of England changing the material to make the new fivers much more durable.

But as one person found out, they may be hard to tear, but they definitely can’t withstand the tumble dryer.

Shared by Ryan Swain on Facebook, an image shows someone’s finger pointing at a shrunken note after they’d forgotten to remove it from their jeans pockets before a hot spin in a tumbler dryer.

The photo is believed to have come from Merv Thomas, who posted the image on Facebook with the caption: “So the new fiva is to replace the old ones that would rip easy and fallt apart… don’t leave the new ones in a hot place the f*****s melt as me and Emily Jayne Tucker just found out.”

Thomas claims he left the note on the side of his burger van, and that the sheer heat caused it to shrink.

So while Swain’s post may not have been his own, we certainly don’t doubt the idea that a tumble dryer would shrink one of the new fivers.

The new £5 notes were designed to make the currency more secure from counterfeits as well as making them more durable.

It’s the first time Britain has used a polymer (a form of plastic) note.