Scottish notes in England

jimbms

You will find like our Manx notes they are not legal tender but banks will exchange them free of charge, but their coinage is legal whereas our coinage isn't but shops never notice.

DebtHater

As a cabbie, we have a local Scottish barracks in the city.
They hand us £5, £10 and £20 notes from Clydesdale Bank etc and we take them no problems. As long as the notes say "STERLING" on them, we take them and I would expect people to take a Scottish note that I tried to pay with.

I then go on and spend those notes or bank them. Whatever I do with them, they are accepted with no quibbles

MCGONIS

I agree. I don't see what the problem is. I have used Scottish bank notes in Nottingham and Blackpool. Before I hand it over, I always ask if it is okay to use and have never been refused. I am surprised a large chain like co-op would even bother.

When I worked in Victoria Wine, we would get Northern Bank notes passed when there was a Celtic match on in Glasgow with a lot of the Irish fans over and wanting a pre game drink.

We accepted them without question. Irish notes were always sent to Girobank and not put back into circulation in Scotland. Can't see why an outlet in England or Wales would not do the same with a Scottish note.

Infact, I am sure if I refused a note on the argument of "this isn't really legal tender here" I would have gotten into trouble from head office.

cyberbob

Never had any problems with Scottish notes in England or Wales. Last time I went south (we are in the Highlands) I drove to Cardiff overnight so I spent the next couple of days spending Scottish notes no one even questioned them (this was both local shops and National chains). The only ones I know they wont accept (even in the borders and the Central Belt) is Scottish £1 notes that we still get circulated up here in the North east

Nukumai

CG19a wrote: »

The other point to add, legal tender is only applicable when paying a debt. When you are going through a checkout, you don't own the products yet, so aren't in debt and the shop can refuse to accept any payment form it likes, however in a restaurant where you have eaten your meal and go to pay, you are technically in debt to the restaurant and therefore they must accept legal tender to pay the bill.

Not quite, but you are on the right track. Specifically, legal tender (under UK jurisdiction) is a means of payment that, if the payment of a debt is challenged in court, will be deemed to have been extinguished if it was paid in legal tender.

A shopkeeper/restauranteur (or anybody else) is free to refuse legal tender in exchange for his goods or services, though this would not be a particularly constructive way to operate a business.

pendulum

marvic31 wrote: »

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.

It probably took her about 2 minutes to put the stuff back.
How long did it take you to travel all the way to another hardware store and re-pick everything you wanted?

MothballsWallet

I don't why England can't accept Scottish notes - in Scotland, we have to accept English notes (which really is like Monopoly money).

Nukumai

MothballsWallet wrote: »

I don't why England can't accept Scottish notes - in Scotland, we have to accept English notes (which really is like Monopoly money).

Mothballs - a merchant/supplier (whatever) can accept whatever notes he chooses. There is no rule or law precluding the acceptability of Scottish notes in England. The only issue would be where, for example, a court gets involved to determine whether or not a debt has been extinguished.

It is acknowledged that, in practice, there can be difficulties when presenting Scottish notes in England; but that is probably due to ignorance on the part of the recipient - in some cases, because the notes are unfamiliar to them.

amersall

the shop where i worked took scottish notes, as long as they had "sterling" on. in all denominations

moonrakerz

Nukumai wrote: »

Not quite, but you are on the right track. Specifically, legal tender (under UK jurisdiction) is a means of payment that, if the payment of a debt is challenged in court, will be deemed to have been extinguished if it was paid in legal tender.

A shopkeeper/restauranteur (or anybody else) is free to refuse legal tender in exchange for his goods or services, though this would not be a particularly constructive way to operate a business.

Quite correct:

A little true story which I have told before (apologies to those who have read it before)

Some years ago a man in Scotland was in a dispute with his local Council over money which they claimed he owed them. He eventually "gave in" and decided to pay up. He took along his "debt" all in copper coins. The Council refused to accept it as it was not "Legal Currency". He refused to pay it any other way, so they took him to Court.
The Sheriff then ruled that anything that could reasonably described as "money" was to be accepted in settlement of a debt. It took the Council a while to count all the coins !