Just a fortnight left to use up paper tenners

Paper £10 notes will cease to be legal tender in under a fortnight.

The Bank of England tenners - featuring Charles Darwin - will expire at midnight on March 1, with figures from the Bank of England suggesting that there is more than £2bn worth of the old paper £10 notes in circulation

From March 1, only the new polymer £10 notes - which feature Jane Austen and were introduced last September - will be legal tender.

However, while the old notes will not be accepted in shops from March 1 unless at the discretion of the business, they can be exchanged at the Bank of England for free - either in person or by post.

Paper bank notes are gradually being replaced by plastic notes, which are harder to counterfeit, more resistant to dirt and more durable.

The new £10 notes are expected to last at least five years - more than twice as long as their paper predecessors

All paper Scottish £5 and £10 notes will also cease to be legal tender on March 1.

Similarly, after that date, paper notes will be able to be exchanged at the Bank of Scotland, Clydesdale and Royal Bank notes, but only used in shops at the stores’ discretion.

However, paper Ulster Bank £5 and £10 notes, legal across the UK, will remain in circulation until 2019, when they will be replaced by polymer versions.

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