PRESTON shoppers will be able to spend a penny, peseta or punt when a high street store welcomes foreign currencies at its cash tills.

Department store Marks and Spencer is planning a £10 million trade-in of its old tills for a new computerised system which will accept all major foreign coins and eventually, the single European currency - the euro.

A spokeswoman for the firm said: "We are converting tills in our 300 stores because the existing ones are old. The new tills will handle all currencies including the euro, as well as standard sterling.

"Stores will carry guides saying how much £5 is worth in foreign money. By the end of 1999, all our branches will have the new tills."

Lancashire stores should be adapted to the new scheme early in the New Year to coincide with a large-scale re-training programme for staff.

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