'What's legal tender?' discussion

jimbms

rapido wrote: »

A polite question, checking with the manager or a closer look at the note is fine. As you rightly stated, seeing non-Bank of England notes is unusual in some parts of the UK.

But refusal is not on, and anyone doing so, well maybe they shouldn't be handling cash for their jobs.

-rapido

Rapido I state again Isle of Man is NOT part of the UK, (thankfully), in legal terms it's notes and coinage have the same status for acceptance in the UK as say the Dollar and the Euro etc. If a shopkeeper over there accepts them a Bank would be legally entitled if they wished to charge a fee to exchange the said notes. It is not the case of our notes being non-Bank of England UK notes, they are legally foreign notes. We here on the mainland have tended to accept BoE notes from the adjacent isle because it is in our interest economically to do so but shopkeepers have the legal right to refuse BoE notes, it also helps that the value is of equal parity but I would not count on that the way feelings are going here, a lot here want to break ties with you because we don't want to suffer for the one eyed jocks attempt to bankrupt your country. So in fact it is the opposite in our case, anyone who handles cash and accepts our notes, well maybe they shouldn't be handling cash for their jobs.

jimbms

trevort wrote: »

Always tempted to spend the plastic Northern Bank £5 kept safely. Bet thatwould raise some eyebrows on the English side of the Irish Sea.

Keep hold of it. I recently saw one of our old Manx plastic £1 notes go on ebay for £87 and have have 20 in consecutive number order stashed in safe keeping. Even our current £1 notes sell for up to £8 on ebay

coincounter01

Been to the Royal Mint link and read all the posts on this site. Interesting.:(
I can use legal tender to buy something, or pay a debt, but only to the exact ammount of the transaction, because the seller/creditor has no obligation to give change.
So can I pay legal tender into my bank account? If so, does the quantity limit still apply?
Whether the answer is yes or no, why does my bank refuse to allow any £5 coins [crowns, which, by the Royal mint definition, are legal tender up to any ammount and have no quantity limit], to be deposited into any of my accounts.:mad:

rapido

. .

VeeW

MarsKy wrote: »

I'm Scots, and I can understand why English shopkeepers are wary of Scots notes.
When the latest Royal/ Bank of Scotland notes were given to me in change, I had to have a good look at them. More-so the Clydesdale Bank notes which aren't as common and often have wonderful but unfamiliar designs.
Legal tender or not, there's no immediate way of verifying a note as being trustworthy - could be someone with a good of understanding of Photoshop or printing presses.
If I go down south I hit the cash machines down there to get Bank of England notes as it makes life a lot easier.

Very funny post. Ways to verify notes "as trustworthy" are available & are used to check for forged english notes too!

VeeW

jimbms wrote: »

crystalmaze: Do please try to be a little civilised and not post in caps.
You are not the only ones who get this, we in the Isle of Man cannot use our notes in Scotland so I ask you why is your country not civilised enough to accept our notes as they are £ sterling, as if our proud nation (the only country in the British isles not in debt by the way) are some sort of second class citizens, isn't it about time the Scottish government got their act together and accepted the notes of a fellow Celt nation, this is the sort of behavior we normally expect from the English.

IOM notes can be exchanged in Scottish banks on a £ for £ basis. My father lived in the IOM for many years & on return from visiting I often had IOM notes left. I usually just kept them for next time, but when my father died & I had no need to return my bank (RBS) happily allowed me to exchange them. They also did the same last week with an Irish note. Sorry state if shops don't accept all sterling notes on this basis.

VeeW

Brian_The_Lion wrote: »

and can I also ask this question, not directed to you personally jimbms, if you know there is a possibility that your £200 in scottish notes might cause problems, why take it with you in the first place? Im certain there are more ATM's in england than anywhere else in the UK that you could take your money out of? Why create a problem when there doesnt have to be one?

Do you change your notes into Scottish notes out of courtesy when you/if you come here? We've had ATM's here for many a year. It is your countrymen who have created the problem. Check the notes the Queen has no problem with them!!

VeeW

r9rog wrote: »

Readers should not indignantly expect suppliers to accept non-BoE notes. Apart from Court rulings, legal tender is required to honour a debt which is frequently incurred prior to offer of payment. Restaurants, taxis and petrol stations are contracted by the customer on the basis of payment by means that are acceptable to the supplier. The customer is obliged to pay by - and the supplier is obliged to accept - legal tender, ie BoE notes and coins; in fact, the customer is not entitled to change.

Such suppliers are entitled to compensation in a form they recognise and trust. I see about a dozen Scottish notes a year and one Ulster note every 2 years, but I handle about 5000 BoE notes a year. I can't identify Scottish notes from memory and at my bank I have been shown forged notes of a slightly more pink and a slightly more purple shade so why should someone I don't know and will never see again expect me to take an enhanced risk of loss when the law clearly does not support them?

Martin, please stop aiding the forgers and recommend that where relevant people always ask restaurants, taxis and petrol stations if they are prepared to accept non-legal tender prior to incurring the service.

get a grip

VeeW

tazical wrote: »

I have a shop in England and the reason why many people don't accept Scottish notes is mostly because we hardly ever see them. A lot of shopkeepers aren't sure if the banks will accept them or not when they get presented with one for the first time.

I think we've only been given about 3 Scottish notes in twenty years and no Irish ones at all . I can't blame anyone for not taking a certain type of payment if they've never seen it before and/or would have difficulty using it as payment elsewhere.

Interestingly, a few years ago we accepted a Scottish £20 note and our bank refused to pay it into our account. We were told that any notes with '£20 sterling' written on them were acceptable, but if they just had £20 and no 'sterling' written on them then they weren't legal tender. I've since found out that isn't the case, so even the banks are confused on the matter!

scary thought that even your banks are clueless too

VeeW

GERRY5 wrote: »

The simple problem as a shopkeeper is the recognition of scottish and n. irish notes in the case of identifying whats not a fake and what is real, as there are three banks in scotland all producing notes its very easy to get caught out,also some banks also charge to send the notes back to there respective countries. as previously stated notes in scotland are not legal tender anyway , but acceptable tender only ...the scottish legal currency is the the coin ,but they accept almost anything due to there relaxed banking laws in comparison to the the bank of england rules.....as a retailer we have the right to refuse any sale regardless of reason not just the monetary issue being discussed here ,i.e. if an item is incorrectly priced i have no legal obligation to sell it at that price marked ,i do how ever have the right to withdraw the item from sale and reprice the said item whatever currency your offering.banks im afraid make charges not only for returning notes to there respective countries of origin but also for change,banking cheques, banking money etc...so why should any retailer take additional costs on board, the risks of fakes for a currency that is only acceptable tender and NOT legal tender in the eyes of the bank of england ...my staff are not rude to people offering scottish or n.irish notes ,but explain the reasons why we wont accept them, its not scots bashing in any form, the same reason why some people wont accept english fifty pound notes due to the amount of fakes around ...its the retailers choice in the end to deal or not ...

Once again the problem seems to be with your banks. Here notes banked £ for £