The issue of fake or counterfeit bank notes circulating in Cumnock and the surrounding areas appears to be a thing of the past.

Back in November, we reported how Central Garage in Cumnock was not accepting Bank of England £5 notes “due to the amount of fakes in circulation”.

A number of other shops in the area also stopped accepting cash for a period of time until the issue was resolved.

Some claims were made that the notes were not in fact ‘fake’, but were instead part of a misprinted batch of notes.

However, some shop owners remained sceptical about accepting cash.

Throughout this period, police and East Ayrshire trading standards maintained that they’d received no reports of counterfeit cash.

One shop owner admitted that the issue has not reared its head for a few weeks now.

They said: “Initially we were worried about the number of reports of fake notes in the area which is why we stopped accepting them for a period of time.

“We’ve not heard anything about it since so we’re back to operating as normal.

“It’s certainly made us more aware of what to look out for, but we’re obviously glad that the issue seems to have died down a bit in recent weeks.”