# a single wrong character in a font

I am writing some code using unicode and my chosen font works out great for me with the exception of for some reason the font uses an italicised dollar sign instead of the sign for GBP. Is this a bug in my code or will I have to import the correct one from a different font? Is there a way to do this without using math symbols, since the text will be coming in from another source rather than me writing it. If I understand this (Importing a Single Symbol From a Different Font) process correctly, I'd rather not do that, and just have the program replace the offending character.

\documentclass[11pt]{article}
\usepackage{fullpage}
\usepackage[utf8]{inputenc}
\usepackage{tabularx}
\usepackage{ltablex}
\usepackage{helvet}
\renewcommand{\familydefault}{\sfdefault}
\usepackage[none]{hyphenat}
\usepackage{array}
\usepackage{bigstrut}
\begin{document}
The text in here £ is the problem character.
\end{document}"""


In the OT1 encoding, the sterling symbol can only be obtained as the dollar in the unslanted italic font. This is by historical reasons; the Computer Modern fonts have the sign in the expected place, most of the other font families don't. Use the T1 encoding.

\documentclass[11pt]{article}
\usepackage[T1]{fontenc}
\usepackage[utf8]{inputenc}
\usepackage{helvet}
\renewcommand{\familydefault}{\sfdefault}
\begin{document}
\textsterling % this is the inner command called by £

The text in here £ is the problem character.
\end{document}


You may also want to try \usepackage{tgheros} instead of helvet.