A COUNCILLOR has urged people to be on the lookout for dud £1 coins circulating in the area.

Coun Tim O'Kane got on the Hyndburn Circular bus in Whalley Road, Clayton-le-Moors, to go to a cabinet meeting on Friday and was "gobsmacked" to be told the £1 coin he wanted to pay with was unacceptable.

"The driver immediately identified it as duff and said it was known as a Manchester coin," he said.

"Fortunately I had some other change but it made me think. I'm fairly healthy but I wouldn't like to think of a pensioner in the same boat -- and I wouldn't have liked to be turfed off for not having a £1 coin."

Harry Brady, staff resources manager with Lancashire United, the company that runs the Hyndburn Circular, said the coins can be identified in several ways including the design, which features the Queen's head out of line with the design on the other side of the coin.

He said they were also a different colour, a different weight and sounded different if dropped.

"There are a lot in Lancashire now," he said. "Our drivers are warned to look out for dud coins and notes.

"Unfortunately if a pensioner gets on with a dud coin, they will be treated the same as anyone else because the driver would be out of pocket if he accepted them."

The company had a policy of not refusing entry to children, he added.