Cancer survivor flogs new plastic fiver for £1,699 after spotting ‘misprint’… and here’s how YOU could cash in too
A GRANDMOTHER hopes to fund a dream family Christmas by selling a new £5 note.
Gail Meikle, 51, is the latest person to capitalise on the craze which has seen people spend thousands of pounds buying the new plastic tender.
The catering worker got her hands on the valuable banknote after it was given to her by a taxi driver as part of her change.
She told the : “I didn’t expect to make any profit from one but a taxi driver was talking about how much they were worth and I realised I had one, which another taxi driver from a different firm gave me in my change.
“It is absolutely mad, there must be thousands out there with a misprint and everybody also seems to be looking out for the AK serial numbers.”
Gail, from Bromborough Pool, Wirral, put one of the new misprinted fivers up for sale on eBay and has had one bid of £1,699.
She wrote on the auction site: “Very rare £5 note, printing error just below Queen’s head, a line of 5s below line and other out of [alignment], AK09. Excellent condition passed two hands, no marks, slight soft crease only but very good condition.”
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She said another five pound note with what appeared to be a similar printing error recently sold for £1,945 while someone on eBay spent £80,000 on a fiver that featured a serial number beginning AK47.
The new banknotes are printed on polymer, which is a thin plastic material resistant to dirt and moisture, and is expected to last 2.5 times longer than current paper notes.
New fivers with early serial numbers such as AA have been selling for hundreds of pounds on bidding sites, and notes starting with AK47 have also proved popular.
Is your plastic £5 note worth thousands?
The new plastic fivers fetching the highest prices are the ones that contain serial numbers beginning with 'AA01'.
This means they were produced in the first batch of new five pound notes.
These four digits are then followed by six more numbers.
The smaller the number in this six-digit figure, the earlier it was printed in the batch.
The earlier it was printed, the more valuable the note is.
Serial numbers are printed down the left hand side of the banknote and it also appears in the bottom right, below the clear window.
The first note – featuring the serial number AA01 000001 – was presented to The Queen which means there are up to 999,998 other fivers with the AA01 prefix.
She is also selling one of the notes with the serial number AA01, which has a starting price of £250.
Gail said she hoped the buyer was genuine and plans to put the money towards a dream Christmas with her daughter Samantha, 25, and granddaughter Naomi, six.
The festivities would end 2016 on a high for the family after Gail was diagnosed with bowel cancer earlier this year.
She said: “I had a major operation in May. I’ve got the all clear but it’s been a really tough year.
“Any money it makes will go towards the family. Everyone struggles at this time of year but it will make sure we can have a nice Christmas.
“It reminds me of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory with the golden ticket!”
Earlier this week a dad-of-three revealed how he had made over £1,000 selling fivers.
New plastic £10 notes are also planned on being released next summer and they will feature the image of novelist Jane Austen.
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