Bank probe into new £5 notes

THE Bank of England has launched an 'urgent investigation' of its new £5 notes after receiving reports that serial numbers on the currency rubbed off, it said today. A spokesman for the Bank said it had received around 'half a dozen' calls from members of the public.

'We have had a small number of reports from members of the public of serial numbers rubbing off and so we are investigating urgently,' the spokesman said.

The new fivers were introduced on Tuesday, but the spokesman said the bank had not halted release of the notes yet. 'At the moment we are carrying on releasing them,' he said. The spokesman said people who had enquired had been told to go to a bank and exchange the notes for a fresh one.

He continued: 'We did undertake extensive tests before the notes were launched and had no reason to believe there would be any problems.'

However, he could not say how many notes - made at the Bank's printing works in Debden, Essex - had been released, as a number were still in stock. '#These aren't the key security features, this is just the serial number which gives you a unique number for the note and tells us when and where it was printed. It is not one of the key security features on the new note. When we have found out more from our urgent investigation we will have more to say.'