torn banknote?

NowRetired

A shop assistant gave me a £5 note as change and I never noticed that there was about half an inch torn off the edge, I just put it in my pocket without looking.

Next day I was in another shop and pulled out this now crumpled £5 note and handed it to the assistant and after she uncrumpled it she asked where the other bit was.

I told her that is how I got it and she said she couldn't take it.

Because I was in a hurry I took it back and just pulled another crumpled £5 note from my pocket and gave her that, vowing to myself that each £5 note I spent in that shop from now on was going to be extra crumpled.

I went to the bingo that night and handed it over and the person just took it without making any comment about it.

So how much of a £5 note can be missing before it can be deemed too damaged to be spent?

stclair

Im not sure of this has any relevance to your question:

Assessment of Claims

The Bank will give reasonable consideration to claims made in respect of banknotes which have been damaged accidentally. In making our assessment we take into account a number of factors. A key consideration for the Bank is that we should not knowingly pay out twice on the same banknote. Therefore, as a general rule, there should be physical evidence of at least half a banknote before payment can be made although an explanation of how damage has occurred to the banknote will be taken into account. If the Bank receives an application where less than half a banknote has been submitted and the Bank is unable to reasonably ascertain whether a larger portion of the banknote still exists, it is unlikely that payment will be made

http://www.bankofengland.co.uk/banknotes/Pages/damaged_banknotes.aspx

Hazzanet

http://www.bankofengland.co.uk/banknotes/Pages/about/faqs.aspx#8

NowRetired

I am more concerned about the note being refused in a shop, if I had had the time I would have asked to see a manager and insisted that the shop took my torn note or I would have told them to keep my purchase and left the shop.

This was a small shop not a supermarket.

Gromitt

You could have insisted they took it, but they as well could refuse to serve you. Considering the amount of fake notes flying around, I'm not surprised a small shop was a little nervous of accepting a torn note. Heck, I've seen some shops refuse notes because they appeared "too crumpled" and they are perfectly within their rights to do so.

Paul_Herring

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Can_legal_tender_be_refused

A shopkeeper is entitled to refuse payment if the coins or banknotes are mangled, mutilated or torn or, he cannot make change for a small purchase from a large banknote.

macman

Take it to the bank and ask them to change it. Crumpled isn't usually an issue, but part of the note missing certainly is, so I don't understand your annoyance.

NowRetired

so I don't understand your annoyance

Both numbers were on it, someone used it in another shop without any bother, I accepted it in change without any bother, I spent it easily enough elsewhere.

I just thought the person refusing it was being awkward.

Biggles

NowRetired wrote: »

I am more concerned about the note being refused in a shop, if I had had the time I would have asked to see a manager and insisted that the shop took my torn note or I would have told them to keep my purchase and left the shop.

Sounds like a lot of unnecessary trouble for a small purchase. In the end, it sounds like you did the sensible thing. Er, well, with the exception of spending the note on a game of chance, that is....

[Deleted User]

I was under the impression that if you have 51% of the note, even if it's in bits, you can return it to the Bank of England for a new one.

Paul_Herring

billbennett wrote: »

I was under the impression that if you have 51% of the note, even if it's in bits, you can return it to the Bank of England for a new one.

You can. If the BoE can be certain that, having redeemed one part of a note, that they won't be potentially (doubly) redeeming the rest of the note sometime later, then they will do so.

However, this is of no relevance to the OP's problem where the person they were trying to hand the note to was a local shopkeeper, not the BoE.