Scottish notes in England

CrazyClum

Just wondered what the law was regarding these, living in England I occasionally get one in change, but my local Co-op refused to accept one last weekend.

Do we have any rights when using these?

4743hudsonj

CrazyClum wrote: »

Just wondered what the law was regarding these, living in England I occasionally get one in change, but my local Co-op refused to accept one last weekend.

Do we have any rights when using these?

They are legal tender and are worth the same as English £5 notes.

However its my understanding that shops are not allowed to hand them back to customers and instead should bank them (to be sent back to Scotland to prevent the mixture of notes).

So handing them one is as good as a normal English one, but bear in mind that any shop can refuse any sale for any reason including no reason at all! So you cant insist on them taking it.

Chester_Draws

Scottish & Northern Ireland banknotes are NOT legal tender in England.

However, with agreements, shops and banks usually accept them. You will not find any criteria about any legality for handing them back.

Clarified on the bank of England website:
http://www.bankofengland.co.uk/banknotes/about/faqs.htm#16

marvic31

Happened to me when visiting Newcastle. I bought a basket full of stuff in a small hardware store. Snooty cashier refused to take my lovely scottish, hard earned Ten Pound note. So I told her to have fun putting all the stuff back on the shelf.

CynicalScotsman

Actually, Scottish & Northern Irish notes are not legal tender anywhere... The only legal tender note in Scotland is a Bank of England £1 note - which doesn't exist!

The Scottish system works basically like an IoU, that it why it states on the front of the note:

"The (bank) promise to pay the bearer on demand £5/10..."

It is therefore the equivalent to a BOE note. Scottish banks have a legal obligation to cover the amount of notes in circulation with cash reserves. This is causing an issue currently for the banks as the government are looking to change the legislation to include notes within ATM's as 'in circulation' - this is not currently the case as the notes only become in circulation when they are withdrawn. This will obviously mean banks would have to increase their cash reserves.

I presume the NI system is similar.

If you take one to a bank they will exchange it for you as there are reciprocal agreements in place.

I hope this helps.

4743hudsonj

Ok so the legal tender thing is wrong but irrelevant anyways.

So as i said your sale can be refused for any or no reason even with English BoE notes. So it doesnt really matter if its the queen herself with a BoE, you with Scottish or me with a fish to trade. all can be refused or accepted.

Must be a misnomer then about handing Scottish notes back?

Jojo_the_Tightfisted

Would never accept them because I wouldn't know whether it was genuine or not - have returned one given as change before now (with no trouble whatsoever from the shop manager either - he said he understood completely)

4743hudsonj

Jojo_the_Tightfisted wrote: »

Would never accept them because I wouldn't know whether it was genuine or not - have returned one given as change before now (with no trouble whatsoever from the shop manager either - he said he understood completely)

im the same, dont know what to look for so ask for an alternate note.

Nukumai

CynicalScotsman wrote: »

The only legal tender note in Scotland is a Bank of England £1 note - which doesn't exist!

No banknote whatsoever is legal tender in Scotland. As this link from a Scottish Parliament briefing clearly explains, only Royal Mint coins are legal tender in Scotland :

http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/business/research/briefings-03/sb03-51.pdf

Hintza

At least the Scottish banks still have the ability to issue their own notes; the English banks cocked that up years ago....;)

(Mind you we have done a good job of try to get the privilege removed over the last year or so...:mad:)

tcr_3

I was in London a few years ago and handed an Asian shopkeeper a RBoS ten pound note ... he refused it in broken English, saying they didn't take foreign notes, which I thought amusing. Paid with a couple of English fivers instead.

The Scottish notes can be confusing even for Scots. RBoS, Bank of Scotland and Clydesdale have a couple of versions of each denomination in circulation, the newer notes look very different to the ones they replace ... so you might have 5 or 6 different types of ten pound notes floating about your wallet if you take money out of the bank.

I had an English woman last week visit my workplace. I gave her the change she was due, which included an English fiver. She said, "Oh, an English note ! So much better than Scottish monopoly money" ... brave woman, considering I'm in Glasgow :mad: