A SEASONED car booter who has stood Leigh Miners' many times changed his venue to my local on Sunday.

He tempted me to add an ancient washboard to my collection of kitchen equipment, and I was a bit miffed when he checked my tenner.

"Can't be too careful luv," he said. "At Leigh Miners they pass counterfeit pound coins."

"Do they indeed?" I asked.

Funny, because a while ago, when I was regular moocher there, I had one. But, by the time I spotted it in my purse, I didn't know where it had originated from.

It looked very much like a normal pound, but when scratched revealed a silver streak, and was an obvious forgery. I keep it in the car to use for releasing supermarket trolleys!

So Leigh area carbooters beware. Check your takings, and change. You have been warned.

Even though people are mostly selling off their unwanted stuff to bargain hunters, they don't deserve to be duped by unscrupulous rogues.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.