http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-22612487

It's so endemic over here that shopkeepers don't have much choice but to take them

The banks won't accept them, so the shopkeepers are just as bad as the counterfeiters, as they keep them in circulation.

Counterfeit coins are fairly easy to spot. If you could make a better fake it wouldn't be economic to do so.

That's just it - the banks do accept them, otherwise Ulster would have even less shops and the banks wouldn't have much in the way of cash deposits

And if you think that's bad, try the established crime gangs in the Republic...

So give them longer sentences.

Fake pound coins used to be easy to spot as the rims gave them away. (no text etc.) But these days it's much harder.
I had one last week that I was a bit suspicious about, but I spent it anyway.

I got one years ago, but had not seen one for years. Though counterfeiting used to get really stiff sentences. It is now becoming worth the risk.