Households are still yet to swap millions of pounds worth of old paper £5 and £10 notes, despite them no longer being legal tender, the Bank of England has revealed.
On Wednesday, it said 118 million paper £5 notes and 94 million £10 paper notes still haven't been returned.
This is equivalent to £1.5billion, more than a year after the last of them ceased to be legal tender.
Paper £5 notes were withdrawn in May 2017 and the £10 notes in March 2018 - however Brits can still use them by swapping them for legal, plastic versions at the Bank of England.
A bank spokeswoman said the number of £5 paper notes returned - more than 224 million - was lower than expected, while the number of £10 notes (697 million) was in line with expectations.
She said the shortfall in returned fivers was likely to be because, as notes of relatively low value, they were more likely to be lost or damaged - together with a desire to retain them as souvenirs.
While the paper £5 and £10 notes are no longer legal tender, they will always be accepted by the Bank of England.
People can take or post any old notes to the bank in Threadneedle Street to be exchanged for a new, polymer one.
The spokeswoman added: "All genuine Bank of England banknotes that have been withdrawn from circulation retain their face value for all time and can still be exchanged over the counter.
"There is no fee for this service and there is no expiry on the period in which we will exchange old notes. Banknotes can also be exchanged by post."
The withdrawal of paper notes follows the termination of 'round £1' coins in October 2017, though the Royal Mint estimates more than 145million of these remains in the hands of the public .
