Shops are ignoring £1 deadline but students could miss out

Shops across Winchester are ignoring the deadline to stop accepting the old £1 coins.

Many of the larger shops will disregard warnings from the Royal Mint, the government owned coin producer, and continue to accept the old currency.

But University of Winchester students will be missing out as their Student Union (SU) shop is one of the few that will be sticking to the deadline.

An SU representative said “We will completely stop accepting the old £1 coins as of this Sunday.”

Tesco said it would continue to accept the old coins for an extra week as a gesture of goodwill to its customers.

Although Poundland, the discount store, has said it will let customers continue to use the old coins well beyond the cut off date.

Barry Williams, Poundland’s managing director, has said he wants to stop customers having to “make a separate trip to the bank or the post office”.

The majority of country’s main retailers, including Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Poundland and Marks & Spencers, will continue to take the old £1 coins for another week following the deadline.