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Shops are starting to refuse to take the “indestructible” new £5 notes – because people are mangling them to see how tough they are.

The Bank of England introduced the plastic fivers six weeks ago in a blaze of publicity about durability tests they had been subjected to.

But retailers say that is backfiring as punters rise to the challenge of finding out how much punishment they can stand. Notes are being bitten, ironed, put through tumble dryers and soaked in booze – and getting damaged in the process.

Newsagent Amit Patel said: “I’ve already refused to accept one after a customer presented it with what appeared to be damage caused by someone chewing one of the corners.

Another man told me he’d spent 10 minutes dipping a note in red wine to see if it would stain.”

Mr Patel, of Bexley, south-east London, added: “Customers see the ‘indestructible’ label as a challenge.”

When the new polymer notes were launched Bank of England Governor Mark Carney said they were “cleaner, stronger and safer” than the larger paper ones. They are said to last five years longer.

But Paul Baxter of the National Federation of Retail Newsagents said: “We’ve heard of people adding them to their wash, trying to tear them or letting their kids test them.”

The notes suffered another blow when Scottish print centre boss Stuart McLean realised that he could erase the word “England” with a rubber .

A Bank of England official said: “We don’t want people to think of the new £5 note as a plaything.”