'What's legal tender?' discussion

snapdragon69

1984ReturnsForReal wrote: »

Are stamps still legal tender?

Stamps are not legal tender. It is a commonly held myth.
I tried to pay a court fine with them once.
It made me look a right idiot.
They showed me the Acts.

stormclouds

I have to go down to Sheffield tomorrow from Edinburgh. I'm dreading the taxi to my aunt's house as the drivers always get incredibly arsey when you hand them a Scottish note. I'm tempted to ask Sainsburys or somewhere if they have an English one or just pick up £20 worth of pound coins. The taxi driver can't complain. I'm sure he/she'd appreciate the change.

Interesting thing happened at Scotch Corner a few years ago. I was on my way back to Edinburgh and bought something with an English £20 note. The cashier said she didn't have any £10 notes but did have two £5 one but they were Scottish and did I mind. The person bringing her more change hadn't turned up yet. Of course I didn't mind at all. I told her I was on my way back to Scotland and she was very relieved.

fairyfeet_2

I visited Holmfirth a couple of years ago and was purchasing goods in a shop where I noticed a sign stating that 'Scotch' notes would not be accepted. The irony wasn't lost on me that I had to use a Bank of England £20 note with the Scottish economist Adam Smith's portrait on it...

absolutechaos

bigchasbroon wrote: »

I once had a meal in cornwall and when I went to pay the girl didnt want to take my scottish notes in the end she took them but does anyone know what would happen if they refused to take them could I be charged with some offence for eating the food and not having the means to pay?

This is a debt because you've eaten the food. Therefore, my understanding is that legal tender cannot be refused. Scottish money isn't legal tender so that could have presented you with an interesting situation.

If this was me and I couldn't resolve it, I would simply walk out, go to a cash machine and get some English notes.

Boggles1234

signalman60 wrote: »

As I understand it, any legal notes (i.e. not forged ) issued by a U.K bank are equally valid when offered in settlement for the purchase of goods and services. The vendor cannot pick and choose.
The purchaser has completed his part of the contract by offering to pay in a U.K currency. If the vendor refuses to accept the payment the purchaser is within his rights to take the goods (or leave say a restaurant in which he has just had a meal) without paying .
If the vendor calls the police to report a theft, he will find that they will confirm that the purchaser is within his rights

I'm afraid you undersdtand it wrong. It even said the opposite of this in todays email

What if a shop refuses your cash? There's little you can do, shops don't have to sell you goods, whatever you offer for payment.

We don;t take Scottish notes as most customers won't accept them in their change and as a business, if I take them to the bank , they charge me to pay money in to my account and then charge me to withrdraw English notes.

We used to accept them but found that lots of other local shops refused to. They would send their customers on to us to swap the notes (without actually buying anything) and you would either have to upset the customer by saying no or swap them and end up paying both the charges above and the charge for buying more loose change from the bank.

Ann86

I had a 50p piece in my change yesterday - it looked identical to Uk coins. Is it legal tender please?

inicholson

I've always enjoyed spending Scottish notes in England. I lived in England for 2 years as a student and always brought a stash of notes back when I visited my parents in Edinburgh and now I always take Scottish notes when I visit my brother in London - I have to go out of my way to do this because I don't usually carry much cash.

My favourite is to order something like a drink or a meal and then offer Scottish notes. If they refuse to take them I don't have any other form of payment (apart from the selection of cards in my wallet, lol!) so they're left with the choice of accepting my notes or throwing away the goods. Most take the money! I feel it's important we educate the English (OK, I'm English too but I live in Scotland) in this way, rather than defer to their ignorance.

I'm aware that the shop/cafe is not legally obliged to take my notes or any other form of payment - they could just refuse to serve me, but telling my my. Many won't take my Amex card which I love for 3 reasons: 1. It's transparent! 2. I get cashback 3. The machines in Iceland (the shop, not the country) can't read its chip so they have to swipe it which really annoys them!

Recently I was in a shop in Glasgow and the manager refused to accept an Ulster note form the lady in front of me. I explained that the next time he was in England and they refused his Scottish notes it would be karma. He tried to claim "that's different"! If I'd had any cash on me I would have bought the lady's notes from her, now there's a good reason to carry more cash!

Coigach

It's simple -- the answer is in the hands of Scots:
Avoid the hassle and don't travel to or through England if it can be avoided at all.

Last year, about to pass through England en route to more civilised Asian and Antipodean destinations I went round four banks in our nearest town seeking foreign currency ( Bank of England notes). None had any.

I'm all too familiar with the surly manner in which so many English cashiers greet Scottish banknotes. The same rude cashiers would no doubt be less than pleased if their English £10 and £20 notes were refused in Scotland and payment in £1 or £2 coins demanded instead.

If it proves impossible to avoid England and one has the misfortune to have Scottish notes refused, ask the cashier, very politely, to repeat everything slowly. Delay things as a queue builds up behind. Listen carefully to what she says. Accuse her, ever so politely, of racial discrimination. Sit tight as the queue grows longer and more interested. Await arrival of manager. Ensure that growing crowd enjoy surreptitiously the allegations of racial discrimination and threats of reporting to Race Relations Board. Leave goods. Announce to crowd Thank goodness not all English people are racists!. Leave store.

Of course, they don't have to accept Scottish banknotes. Nor does anyone in Scotland have to accept any variety of note. However, few things are more calculated to stir up tension between Scots and English and in the end of the day, it's the English retailers who lose out as Scots take their business elsewhere. At least by routing international travel via other hubs like Schiphol we can deal with people who are pleasant. And they actually try to keep their foreign customers happy in Schiphol. My wife, who comes from overseas, lived in Scotland for thirty years before venturing over the border into England and then only to catch an international flight from London. She hasn't shown any sign of wanting to repeat the exercise.

flyingscotno1

UKPatriot wrote: »

This is one of the things that is wrong with the United Kingdom . . . it's not united!:mad:
Why do we not have a United Kingdom Bank Note, valid all over the United Kindom and for that matter, Gibraltar, St Helena, Ascension Island, Falkland Islands? The French did it.
Why are Banks outside England and Wales allowed to issue their own Bank Notes?

Because bank notes were in circulation from different banks before the act of the union and it just continued. Indeed banks in England and Wales did it too, but stopped many years ago. Indeed I like the bit of colour the notes give- I think the Bank of England ones are boring in comparison to some of the ones banks issue! Since then it is a matter of pride and in any case does no real harm. You'd never get a Bank of UK note through- more chance in the Euro :rotfl:

absolutechaos wrote: »

This is a debt because you've eaten the food. Therefore, my understanding is that legal tender cannot be refused. Scottish money isn't legal tender so that could have presented you with an interesting situation.

If this was me and I couldn't resolve it, I would simply walk out, go to a cash machine and get some English notes.

As far as I am aware it has been tested over a bill before in court (which is a bit ridiculous). I'm sure it found that it was unreasonable to insist on legal tender and the people should accept any reasonable attempts to pay by notes commonly accepted as money- or something similar.

lizalloareds

This thread has some interesting reading, the issue with scottish notes not being accepted is nothing new, my mum is english and moved to scotland 30 something years ago and all her family are from kent and we used to visit them often when i was younger and if the shops refused my mums scottish money them we would walk out of the store leaving the goods at the till, i like going on holiday in the UK but last year a woman refused to take scottish money from my daughter for a secondhand book so we left the book, it makes me mad to be treaded as a second class citizen