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

Mouseman

Wow, this little fact has thrown up some interesting reactions. Being half Scots, half English I've had and spent notes from each country in the other. The email fact had nothing to do with the legitimacy of Scottish notes as money, it was making a point about legal tender!

Anyways, having looked into this previously, the first thought (sad I know!) was of the £1 notes as legal tender... A quick google brings up a similar story to what I read before:

"Scottish bank notes are not legal tender in Scotland. English bank notes of denomination less than 5UKP were legal tender in Scotland under Currency and Bank Notes Act 1954. Now, with the removal of BoE 1UKP notes, only coins constitute legal tender in Scotland. English bank notes are only legal tender in England, Wales, The Channel Islands and the Isle of Man. In Scotland, 1 pound coins are legal tender to any amount, 20ps and 50ps are legal tender up to 10 pounds; 10p and 5ps to 5 pounds and 2p and 1p coins are legal tender to 20p (separately or in combination). 2 pounds coins and (if you can get hold of one) 5 pound coins are also legal tender to unlimited amounts, as are gold coins of the realm at face value (in Scotland at least)."

Basically, the only banknote that was legal tender in Scotland was the Bank of England one pound note, which off the top of my head went out of production in '88? I always found that an interesting fact, so thought I'd share it!
I was under the impression that in fact this is still the case, though I've not researched it further... (ie there IS a banknote that's technically legal tender in Scotland Martin, but it has to be of less than £5 value and printed by an English bank (that'll stir some previous posters up again :rolleyes:)).

Taken from http://www.siliconglen.com/Scotland/1_7.html
Wikipedia has it too: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legal_tender#Banknotes

luxor4t

Buff wrote: »

If there is anyone who does not want Scottish Money I will accept it free of charge.Now thats 'MoneySaving' for you.

You have just reminded me of the time OH (scottish & proud of it) came back from the local pub clutching £15 in scottish notes that had been given to him by the landlord!
The notes had been part of a display of "foreign" currency which was being disposed of .

adouglasmhor

hnisc wrote: »

I find it increasingly frustrating when my Northern Irish 'Mickey Mouse' Bank Notes are refused in England but also Scotland. The reason I get for the refusal is that the Queens head does not appear on the notes, but with a political situation in Northern Irelandpreventing this then surely this aspect can be thrown out. Surely because the notes state 'Sterling' then they should be excepted throughout the UK?

Never had any trouble except when I tried to pass a £50 in McDonalds, and that was beecause they never had any change.


I have never had a McDonalds in my life that was the one and only time I tried.

Speug

The daft thing about this is that the Bank of England was actually founded by a Scot! (William Patterson - in 1694). Now that's a nerdy fact.

Mouseman

Speug wrote: »

The daft thing about this is that the Bank of England was actually founded by a Scot! (William Patterson - in 1694). Now that's a nerdy fact.

^^ posted above matey!

Syntagma

Mac2308 wrote: »

Why wasn't the Headline "English Notes aren't legal tender in Scotland" instead? Is this another example of the English having an un-neccessary dig at us Scot's?? I am fed up going into shops in England and being looked at as if I am some sort of criminal for daring to try and use a Scottish note, but when my English wife uses an English note in Scotland she would be outraged if the legality of the note was questioned!

Mac, I understand what you're saying; by the same token, would you take lewist to task for complaining about Northern Rock being billed as a British bank?

Are the London Olympics 2012 British? Or just English?

All of us in this debate, Scottish and English, are British. There's enough disunity and discord in the world as it is without us contriving any more.

Please.

annemcf

The only reason some Scottish savers are 'a little upset' is that we have all been through the experience of having our Scottish notes refused because of some half remembered nonsense of 'them not being legal tender in England' but unfortunately their knowledge of what legal tender actually means stops there. However, no one using English notes has had this VERY frustrating experience and this nerdy fact might be fun for some but just resurrects hassle for others.

Belnahua

Oh, great thanks for this article. Well flaming done.

It was bad enough getting a round in, in a nice little pub down south, then have an argument with the barmaid, as she refused to take my Scottish £20, as that's all I had. So what are you meant to do with 6 pints on the bar and no 'English' money to pay for it - and then being guilt tripped into believing the barmaid would have it taken out of her wages.

So this little article does nothing to help the situation. Thanks a bunch.

yorkie98

With the notable exception of (most) banks and most shops within UK airports, it's pretty much impossible to pass Northern Ireland notes. In England most places will question anything than a Bank of England note.
Ironicly, here in NI, we happily exchange all of our own (18-20 excluding commemorative) bank note designs, plus all Scottish designs and good old Bank of England too.
Your wallet here could contain anything up to 30 or so different note designs and you wouldn't think of any of them as "strange" or "foreign". Scottish notes though are quite a rarity and Bank of England notes account for approx a quarter to a third of the notes in circulation here.
Even stranger is that Sterling notes can often be passed more easily in the Republic of Ireland, where they are a totally foreign currency, than in England, albeit often at a very poor exchange rate.

A fascinating "Nerd fact" and has certainly opened a (mostly) healthy debate.

Syntagma

annemcf wrote: »

The only reason some Scottish savers are 'a little upset' is that we have all been through the experience of having our Scottish notes refused because of some half remembered nonsense of 'them not being legal tender in England' but unfortunately their knowledge of what legal tender actually means stops there. However, no one using English notes has had this VERY frustrating experience and this nerdy fact might be fun for some but just resurrects hassle for others.

Tell me about it. No, I'm not Scottish, but some of you might find this amusing.

I used to work in the retail sector, and, being well aware that any sterling currency issued by any recognized UK bank is legal tender (according to the generally understood definition of the term) throughout the entire UK, I never quibbled when I was offered Scottish or Ulster bank notes.

But I'd try and get rid of them in change (the fivers especially). I would always keep any non-English notes at the top of the pile, so that when I had to give out a fiver or tenner as part of the change it was always the non-English one to go. Not because I believed that our bank wouldn't accept them; I knew it would. No, I did this to try and get it into people's thick heads that their misconceptions about non-English UK currency were just that: misconceptions. Sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn't. If someone refused to accept it, I'd swap it for ten one-pound coins (cue more grumbling) on the pretext that it was either that or the note he was complaining about. Once, I was genuinely almost out of change; I did a cash drop, keeping a Scottish tenner back, meaning the next customer to pay with a twenty had no option but to accept the Scottish tenner in change. Hobson's choice.

On one occasion, I received a Northern Irish ten-pound note. With the permission of my line manager, I swapped it for an English one of equivalent value, then spent it in Tesco. Well, eventually - there was the usual querying, but it seemed that someone in authority there knew what he was talking about.