Some new £1 coins - introduced into circulation last month as the "most secure coin in the world" - may be defective, the Royal Mint has admitted.

It said that a "small number of coins" were affected when they were struck at a rapid rate during production.

The Royal Mint is striking 1.5 billion new 12-sided £1 coins, introduced to help crack down on counterfeiting.

Out of shape versions of the coin, considered collectors' items, are appearing on internet auction sites.

Kristofer Bramwell from Kegworth in Derby tells the BBC:

"I paid for my food with a £20 note and it was in the change. I received it with a pristine minted new 1 pound coin.

"After getting home and eating the takeaway, I took the change out of my coat pocket and I found the badly minted pound coin.

"The edge of the £1 coin is partially 12 sided and rounded where it clearly has not been pressed correctly by the machine."

Philip Munsell, director of Coin News magazine, told the BBC that only a tiny minority of these new coins would be affected, but that fact made them highly collectable.

"The thing about the Royal Mint is that they are very, very good with their quality control, so therefore if you have something that has passed through without being quality checked then itis likely to be collectable, it is likely to therefore be worth more than one pound," he said.

To read the complete article, see:
Royal Mint admits faulty £1 coins are in circulation (www.bbc.com/news/business-39790777)

Some of the coins - supposedly the world's most secure - appear cracked, warped or have the middle missing.

Officials admitted faults had crept into the minting process.

Some of them were left looking like Polos after being issued with their centres missing due to a "comedy of minting errors".

Other flawed coins given to Sun readers are misshapen, have sections bleeding into one another or do not have key design details.

The coins are meant to carry a hologram that makes them impossible to forge - but our readers found cases where this security feature was missing.

Coin collector John Taylor, of Crystal Palace, South London, has a £1 with a missing centre and others with "misstrikes".

Sarah O'Donoghue, from Birmingham, said the silver middle of her £1 coin had bled into the outer gold ring, adding: "It is all melted and out of shape."

To read the complete article, see:
QUIDS ON THESKIDS Thousands of new £1 coins carry major production flaws in embarrassment for Royal Mint - and they have no idea how many more have faults(www.thesun.co.uk/money/3466439/thousands-of-new-1-coins-carry-major-production-flaws-in-embarrassment-for-royal-mint-and-they-have-no-idea-how-many-more-have-faults/)