Where can I find a new one pound coin as it launches TODAY?
THE new 12-sided £1 coin enters circulation today and we can reveal the locations where you can get your hands on one first.
The coin has been described as the most secure in the world and it will slowly replace the old “round pound” - which will stop being legal tender later this year.
Around 300 million new £1 coins have been issued to cash centres across the UK ahead of the launch.
Which is roughly 20 per cent of the planned 1.5 billion that will be in circulation by the end of next year.
But it might take a few days or weeks for people to start seeing the new £1 coins turn up in their change as they gradually filter into general use.
The Sun Online can reveal the 33 locations dotted around the UK where anyone desperate to get their hands on a £1 coin today can definitely pick one up.
All you need to do is turn up to one of these bank branches where you’ll be able to exchange cash for shiny new £1 coins.
The new coins have been made at the Royal Mint in Llantrisant, South Wales, at a rate of three million per day.
WILL THERE BE CHAOS?
THERE are bound to be teething problems as the new £1 coin comes and the old one starts being taken out of circulation. Here are some places where you might have trouble:
- At a train station. Over the weekend eleven out of 18 train providers admitted that they would not be ready for the new coin.
- Parking meters and pay and display machines. Thousands of meters won't accept the new coin as it will take months to change them over.
- Shopping trolleys. Tesco has admitted that thousands of its trolleys will unlocked as they are not ready.
- Vending machines. Millions of machines won't be ready and it could take a while until they are switched over.
- On the tube. TFL admitted to The Sun Online last week that around 5 per cent of its machines will not accept the new coin.
If you're worried about getting into a pickle with the new £1 coin it might be worth keeping a stash of the old ones. You won't be able to use the old-style round pound after October 15 but you can still change it at a bank after this time.
From October 15 2017, businesses will stop accepting the old £1 coin in shops. If you have any left then you can still take them to the bank to exchange them after this time.
The old £1 coins were first launched on April 21 1983 to replace £1 notes. The Royal Mint has produced more than two billion round pound coins since that time.
The production of the new coins follows concerns about round pounds being vulnerable to sophisticated counterfeiters. Around one in every 30 £1 coins in people's change in recent years has been fake.
The new £1 has a bold new design, which combines the English rose, Scottish thistle, Welsh leek and Northern Irish shamrock - all of which bloom from one stem within a royal coronet.
One the other side, the coin features the fifth coin portrait of the Queen.
In terms of how it feels, the new £1 coin is thinner and lighter, but slightly larger than the current coin.
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