A taxi driver sniffed out fake cash – here’s how you can spot it too

Nottinghamshire Police says the taxi driver knew the money he was given was counterfeit “by the look and feel” of it.

The Bank of England says the polymer substrate that modern notes are printed on is very hard to produce, and therefore very hard to counterfeit.

So if a banknote does not look and feel as expected, this is an obvious sign it is not genuine.

Phillips says there are also two key security features that people should look for to make sure a note is genuine – the hologram and the see-through window.

“On the side of the note that has the monarch’s head – look at the bottom, there’s a hologram,” he says.

“As you turn the note from side to side, it flips from saying Five, Ten, Twenty, or Fifty, to Pounds, and back again.”

The see-through window is above the hologram.

“On the front of the note, the detailed foil should have a gold colour to it, whereas on the back, it should look silver,” says Phillips.

“If you look at those, study those features, and they look right, the chances are you can be confident your notes are authentic.”