When do the old £5 notes stop working? They are about to expire!.
The banknote, featuring prison reformer Elizabeth Fry, will no longer be accepted in shops from tomorrow.
Around 150 million of the notes remain in circulation.
The Bank of England said some banks and building societies may continue to accept the old notes after May 5th, but it would be at the discretion of each branch.
Several major banks and building societies have confirmed that customers can continue to deposit old £5 notes after the May 5th cut-off date.
But others have said it is a good idea for people to give themselves time to hand in old fivers rather than leaving it until after they have lost their legal tender status.
The Post Office said its branches will accept the notes as a deposit into any main UK bank account after the May 5th deadline.
Martin Kearsley, banking director, Post Office, said: “We offer free cash withdrawal and deposit services for customers of all main UK banks.
“We’d like to reassure people that there’s no end date to depositing paper £5 notes into bank accounts at local Post Office branches, we will still accept them after the 5th of May deadline.”
The Bank of England will continue to exchange the old £5 notes forever, as it does for any other note which no longer has legal tender status.
The new notes were launched as much more secure than the old version – but “fake” notes have come onto the market, police warned.
However, the bank of England have admitted the notes are in fact real, but that holograms printed into the note to help identity real currency have rubbed off.
The Bank of England had hoped the new plastic note would be much harder to fake than the old version, due to the extra holograms and the see-through panel.
News of the dubious currency comes after fake £5 notes were also found in February
Dorset Police issued the first warning over the alleged counterfeit and the Bank of England confirmed they were investigating.
