diff --git a/httpclient/src/test/java/org/apache/http/client/utils/TestURIBuilder.java b/httpclient/src/test/java/org/apache/http/client/utils/TestURIBuilder.java
index dd5c1a474..aa55e1dec 100644
--- a/httpclient/src/test/java/org/apache/http/client/utils/TestURIBuilder.java
+++ b/httpclient/src/test/java/org/apache/http/client/utils/TestURIBuilder.java
@@ -169,7 +169,7 @@ public class TestURIBuilder {
         // Check that the URI generated by URI builder agrees with that generated by using URI directly
         final String scheme="https";
         final String host="localhost";
-        final String specials="/abcd!$&*()_-+.,=:;'~@[]?<>|#^%\"{}\\£`¬¦xyz"; // N.B. excludes space
+        final String specials="/abcd!$&*()_-+.,=:;'~@[]?<>|#^%\"{}\\\u00a3`\u00ac\u00a6xyz"; // N.B. excludes space
         URI uri = new URI(scheme, specials, host, 80, specials, specials, specials);
 
         URI bld = new URIBuilder()
@@ -198,7 +198,7 @@ public class TestURIBuilder {
         // Check that the encoded URI generated by URI builder agrees with that generated by using URI directly
         final String scheme="https";
         final String host="localhost";
-        final String specials="/ abcd!$&*()_-+.,=:;'~<>/@[]|#^%\"{}\\`xyz"; // N.B. excludes £¬¦
+        final String specials="/ abcd!$&*()_-+.,=:;'~<>/@[]|#^%\"{}\\`xyz"; // N.B. excludes \u00a3`\u00ac\u00a6
         final String formdatasafe = "abcd-_.*zyz";
         URI uri = new URI(scheme, specials, host, 80, specials,
                           formdatasafe, // TODO replace with specials when supported