A group of parents are reeling from the shock of falling victim to a counterfeit money scam.

The PTA at St Michael’s Primary School lost at least £160 when forged £20 notes were passed at its fireworks display.

All the notes had the same serial number and the organisation has been told by a bank that the event was targeted by fraudsters.

“It is sickening,” said PTA secretary Danielle Sharpe. “We are only a small school and rely heavily on our fundraising.

“The school is desperate for IT equipment and the fireworks were to pay for new laptops for the classrooms. Now we will not be able to get as many.

“It is so heartless to target an event like ours which is so obviously in aid of school equipment. The trouble is when you open something up to the general public, you do not know who will come. We think it must have been someone from outside the village.

“We hope this acts as a warning to others to always check bank notes.”

The fireworks display was at the school on Sunday. Tickets were on sale to the public and around 1,400 people attended.

Afterwards, the PTA said that £2,500 had been raised. But when they went to bank the takings, they were told that eight of the £20 notes were forgeries, totalling £160.

Mrs Sharpe said: “We were taking money in good faith in the dark without lights to check the notes.

“In future we will have torches or a machine to test them, but you do not expect someone to do this – it was an amazing event and we were so happy to make such a huge amount of money.

“We are covered by our insurance, but that does not cover our excess.

“This has not ruined our spirits. The children will still get some new laptops, just not as many.”

The PTA reported the loss to the police but were told that little could be done as there was no proof as to who had given over the forged notes.

The Bank of England advises all those handling money to check bank notes carefully.

Advice on its website states: “Retailers and businesses will be much busier than normal over the festive period and often employ temporary staff, so there is an increased risk of counterfeit bank notes being passed.

“Manual checks can quickly and easily be made using the security features on notes. Don’t rely on checking just one security feature, but check a few.”