West Mercia Police have warned residents to be on the lookout for fake £50 notes in Shropshire - which could be easier to spot than usual.

Police say the forgeries feature a spelling mistake which is hard to miss, as the notes are labelled "50 Poonds" instead of pounds.

A new design plastic £50 note was launched last week, which features an image of the Queen on the front and the mathematician Alan Turing on the back.

Police say the counterfeits are based on the older style paper notes and feature the prominent misspelling of the word 'pounds' above the image of engineer James Watt on the rear.

Tweets from the West Mercia force's Telford account read: "Be aware that there are fake fifty pound notes in circulation. The typo on the top is a dead give away."