Shoppers and businesses have been put on red alert for fake bank notes after police seized a batch of high-quality counterfeit cash.

There has been a significant rise in recent weeks across Oxfordshire of counterfeit cash being handed over in shops, businesses and cafes, police said.

Counterfeit notes have been passed to a florist, wine bar and takeaway in Oxford and a pharmacy in Witney in just a few hours earlier this month.

Detectives believe more fake cash has been flooding into tills and customers' hands in recent weeks, but has not been reported to them.

Police have issued many businesses with ultra violet light devices to check the validity of notes passed to them.

Source: Witney Gazette