Nerdy Note Discussion: Scottish Bank Notes Aren’t Legal Tender...

gordies

if you check the banking acts you will see that NOTES of any denomination are not actually legal tender.

the only legal tender in the UK is coin.

Notes have been widely accepted as a means of payment but there is no law in the statute books bringing them into line with UK coinage.

Money_saving_Martyn

I'm a student and worked part time in a supermarket for 5 years.

Although we rarely see Scottish or Irish notes down in Cheshire and Staffordshire, I knew that they existed and accepted them. I did always give non BoE notes a good checking - looking for any suitable security marks. I did, however, do exactly the same when someone tried to pay with one of those new £20 notes issued about a year ago (BoE)

I look for "sterling", a water mark and a metal strip of some sort. Then I accept it.

Maybe local shop keepers see this differently. It's there business and every £1 is important. It's being scared of the unknown. The only cure is education - English cashiers should have to stare at Scottish and Irish notes until they see them as "money"!!!

There was only ever one note I was note sure about. It was an Irish one and it seemed to be made of see through plastic. (Anyone else ever seen these?!) Whether that was real or not I wasn't 100% sure - it seems ok so I accepted it. I'd never seen it before..... but that was my fault.... if it wasn't infact the fault of poor training. I guess I'll have to be more careful incase someone just scribbles "sterling" over a £100000 note from Monopoly!:rolleyes:

MiserlyMartin

Heng_Leng wrote: »

The only time i had problems with Scottish notes was in Suffolk. Went to the restaurant - It was one of those type that you pick what drinks, food etc with a tray and pay before you sit down. Got to end, and the cashier wouldn't take my £30 of BoS notes. So we left it all, and they had to bin it. Could have paid with Switch, but that was more dramatic.

Good on you. It really winds me up that people in England won't take Scottish notes.

Is there any quick one or two line retort to the checkout person that says 'we don't take Scottish notes'?? I don't think I can use the 'It says Pounds Sterling' line because not all Scottish notes say Pounds Sterling on them. I know this is true because a Scotsman once showed me one that didn't. How can we save ourselves the hassle in shops, how can we quickly make them look like idiots and can get on with paying? What can I say>?

Carl_Johnstone

Reading down this and people still seem to have missed the point.

Legal Tender is only a way of making sure a debt is settled. If you're not settling a debt then legal tender doesn't come into it. Buying something in a shop does not involve legal tender.

I'm not aware of such a concept as legal currency in UK law.

When you're in a shop method of payment is entirely an agreement between you and the shop. If you can get a shop to agree to it, you could pay with pigs and sheep.

toxic_shock

it's really annoying the amount of different scottish notes there are; can't you dudes just stick with one!? plus, aside from the new ones, they're really badly made!

don't english banks have to transport scottish money back to the banks, and vice-versa?

and also, one of the main reasons independent outlets don't accept scottish notes is simple, they've been used in fraud so many times. where i live in essex local people lost thousands due to fake notes being passed. and they're the shop keeper, and it's at their discretion, so they want to avoid it again. sure it's a bit racist, but there's a reason behind it.

needless to say, i've never been stopped/queried when i've passed a scottish note over.

greenbonnie

:A i have heard if any shop or petrol station refuses you scotish money.
they are then technically giving you the goods for free. by refusing to accept legal currency namely scotish money. just walk away with the good for free. the police will uphold this. by cctv. evidence. as i read of this in the paper.

harryhound

You don't want to believe anything you read in the papers written by lazy journalists.
[they probably just raided this site for a "story" and that is what they got - by and large a shop keeper does not HAVE to sell anything to anybody.*]
It is offer and acceptance - after all the big shops won't take cheques any more and BT charge you extrta if you try to pay with something that is not a Direct Debit!

Anyway, welcome to the MSE forum, I hope you find it educational.

Harry

* If the shop keeper was to say "I don't accept money from "filthy jocks" he would be on very dodgy "racist" grounds.

eeja

ronnie wrote: »

Dont think quid notes are around any more, not had one in my change for ages.

I have bother all the time when I am in England trying to use a Scottish note, last time I was buying petrol the girl told me they would not accept my £30

Needless to say I left the cash on the counter and walked off, she had no choice then.

................

I would not necessarily recommend that. Some years ago I bought some food in Safeways supermarket and being in a hurry handed the payment to the cashier on the till and rushed out.
Was only a few yards down the road when 3 burly shop assistants tackled me to the pavement , brought me inside and locked me up for an hour until the police arrived . Of course I was immediately released when they discovered that the two pound coin I had handed over and the foreign immigrant cashier had never seen, was legal tender !! Result ; A cheque from Safeways for £5000 for false imprisonment and an apology. A few months later Safeways started to employ security guards instead of using their own staff for this purpose.

r9rog

People accept or reject a note for payment depending on their ability to recognise the value. When a note is offered for a normal retail purpose the shopkeeper may or may not agree the transaction. With an English note in England familiarity enables confident transactions. Perhaps similarly in Scotland or Ulster with Scottish or Northern Irish notes.
For petrol stations (usually) and taxi drivers there is no option to reject the transaction. A legally enforceable debt is contracted by the customer. Trying to make off without honouring the contract by payment with legal tender is a criminal offence.
How do Scottish taxi drivers react to Northern Bank £20 notes for a £4 fare?
Cashiers at my bank accept my English notes without question. They check Scottish notes carefully and usually take them to a manager for verification. If the note fails their check a taxi driver has no way of recovering the loss.

toxic_shock

you can also still get £1 scottish notes. i've never had one personally, but my friends see them still.