Can you refuse legal tender?

chrisxr2

What annoys me is that bus stations do not have a change machine, after all if i go to the bank on my way to get the bus then i have no choice other than to either annoy the newsagent by buying something with a 10 pound note or annoying yhe bus driver with a ten pound note. It is not always easy to have change.

buses7675

Hi All,

I can agree this - Even though people do bring in notes early in the morning, its probably a lot safer for us in a shop to have a float of notes, rather than bus drivers having them!

Cheers

Steve

starlite_2

ha ha..i have the opposite problem, i often don't have time to go to the cash point and so grab a pile of 10 and 20p coins from our change tub on my way out. Often here in london a driver will moan that he doesn't have time to count it...bah!

heather38

"as I know that Scottish and other notes, are not legal tender and can be refused"

yes they are the say stirling on them therefore they are legal tender, shops don't like them because they are harder to spot a fake as they generally have diff water marks than english notes. that's like saying english notes aren't legal in scotland or northern ireland

Altarf

heather38 wrote:

"as I know that Scottish and other notes, are not legal tender and can be refused"

yes they are the say stirling on them therefore they are legal tender, shops don't like them because they are harder to spot a fake as they generally have diff water marks than english notes. that's like saying english notes aren't legal in scotland or northern ireland

Well... According to the Bank of England

"Are Scottish & Irish notes legal tender? In short ‘No’ these notes are not legal tender; only Bank of England notes are legal tender but only in England and Wales."

but they go on to say

"The term legal tender does not in itself govern the acceptability of banknotes in transactions. Whether or not notes have legal tender status, their acceptability as a means of payment is essentially a matter for agreement between the parties involved. Legal tender has a very narrow technical meaning in relation to the settlement of debt. If a debtor pays in legal tender the exact amount he owes under the terms of a contract, he has good defence in law if he is subsequently sued for non-payment of the debt. In ordinary everyday transactions, the term ‘legal tender’ has very little practical application."

http://www.bankofengland.co.uk/banknotes/about/faqs.htm
also
http://www.rbs.com/about03.asp?id=ABOUT_US/OUR_HERITAGE/OUR_HISTORY/OUR_BANKNOTES/HISTORY_OF_OUR_BANKNOTES

SnowyOwl_2

My N.Irish Sterling was refused in Scotland. bah!!!

Paul_Varjak

heather38 wrote:

"as I know that Scottish and other notes, are not legal tender and can be refused"

yes they are the say stirling on them therefore they are legal tender, shops don't like them because they are harder to spot a fake as they generally have diff water marks than english notes. that's like saying english notes aren't legal in scotland or northern ireland

Scottish notes are not legal tender anywhere - not even in Scotland!

Paul_Varjak

starlite wrote:

ha ha..i have the opposite problem, i often don't have time to go to the cash point and so grab a pile of 10 and 20p coins from our change tub on my way out. Often here in london a driver will moan that he doesn't have time to count it...bah!

There are maximum limits on the number of each coin that can constitute 'legal tender'. If you offer coins that excceds those limits they can be refused and 'legal tender' can be demanded. If they are within the limits of what constitutes 'legal tender' they must, by law, be accepted as payment.

heather38

[/quote]Owing to the combined size of these issues – well over a billion pounds – it would be cumbersome for the Bank to hold ordinary Bank of England notes as cover. Instead, special one million pound notes are used. These notes are for internal use only and are never seen outside the Bank[/quote]

this is from the bank of england web site. i want a million pound bank note!!
wonder what a taxi driver would do if you tried to had over one of them?!?!

Paul_Varjak

heather38 wrote:

i want a million pound bank note!!
wonder what a taxi driver would do if you tried to had over one of them?!?!

Ever see the film, The Million Pound Note?