[Closed] Scottish banknotes, legal in England?

They aren't even "legal tender" in Scotland. However, they are legal currency throughout the UK.

http://www.scotbanks.org.uk/legal_position.php

They are worth nowt,send them up here. 🙂

for the time being, they seemed very keen to keep hold of it.

Luckily us shop keepers in England don't have to take them.
It's hard enough to detect a forged English note let alone one of the Scottish varieties.

I helped out a visiting American customer recently, changing some of his big stack of US dollars into pounds. Explaining that different banks in Scotland print their own money, but that a Bank of Scotland £20 is worth the same as a Clydesdale £20 just left a big WTF look on his face 😀

I've never had a problem using Scottish notes in England or Wales.

I've never had a problem using Scottish notes in England or Wales.

I have, in a Greggs of all places. Crawley, West Sussex. Wouldn't take my money (either a fiver or a tenner). I took it personally as I have invested a lot money in Greggs over the years. Had to put them on the banned list for a week as punishment. It was murder.

There's a very fine point of law regarding Legal Tender. Even Bank of England notes don't have to be accepted as payment, unless you're settling a debt in court.

zippykona - Member

It's hard enough to detect a forged English note let alone one of the Scottish varieties.

The principles are the same though- you don't really need to recognise all the notes because a forgery will look the same as a real one, and the physical security- UV, microprinting, interweave, holograms etc- are basically the same. If all else fails put them in the middle of a bundle when you bank it

It seems much easier to spend RBS notes now- it used to be nobody south of the border had heard of them but luckily they blew up the UK economy so now they're a recognised and accepted brand.

Never had a problem south of the border. Johannesburg duty free refused a 20 but took a 10 and a 5.

As per BoE notes they are all promissry notes.

Only place I've had a problem using scottish notes was in Hebden Bridge, but only because there was a local counterfeiting operation at the time and it was Scottish notes they were forging.

But as above 'legal tender' doesn't mean what most people think it means. A vendor can choose to accept anything in exchange of goods and services (bank notes, nectar points, goats) and equally refuse anything - many shops don't accept £50 notes for instance. Legal tender is about whether someone has the right to refuse (rather than choice to accept) payment of a certain sort and that is only in relation to a settlement of a debt. In certain circumstances pennies and 2ps aren't legal tender. If you owe someone thousands of pounds they can refuse you paying them in wheelbarrow-fulls of coppers for instance.

I've had problems a couple of times but they accepted them once I told them I'd just go to another shop, Wales being one of the places.

Last month in Hertford I had to leave a poured pint standing on the bar because the idiot barman refused to take my Scottish money.

bit like the people, legal but unwelcome 😛

I had somebody try this at a restaurant in London. We had already eaten, so I am not sure how they thought that was going to end up. And I may be banned from Browns, quelle dommage.

Most places in England won't take Manx notes either - I've even had a Manx pound coin refused (in WH Smiths at Gatwick airport).
We're expected to accept theirs, of course, mores the pity.

Exchange rate is two Scotch to one English.

Surprised by this as have found Scottish notes to be rejected pretty much everywhere down South.

Only issue was with pound notes, it was in Warrington and they looked at most things a bit funny there 😉

Had a couple of heated discussions but my scottish money has always been taken eventually...

Worst I saw was at the bureau de change in toronto airport - different rates for changing Scottish money than English! They took both, just offered a worse rate for Scotland. That had me ragin' (though I didn't need to change any)

never had them rejected, apart from the raggedy £1 notes, but given their state of repair, I don't blame them. certainly had some "are these real?" looks.

odd being in northbound or southbound services, and they ask if you're heading north or south, presumably to know which change to give. odd, given which of the 2 services I'm in.

since pretty much every issued scottish note has a 1:1 face value amount lodged in the BoE vaults (the shortfall is negligible), they should be accepted (but not legal), and the banks sort it out amongst themselves.

I had some Scottish notes rejected in Harrods.
TBF my voice wasn't at it's best,and I had had a lot to drink. 🙂

I had some of after a visit once it was surprising how many shops refused to take it. In the end took it to a bank.

I used to have a petrol station & one day a guy gave me a Northern Irish £5 note for his fuel, I wasn't too sure about it so I rang a mate who was manager of a Lloyds bank. He said (quote) 'naa theyr'e ok, It's the Southern Irish ones you can't take, The Punt' & I said 'the what?' He said 'Punt, rhymes with bank manager'.

Never had an issue, although having seen the new plastic Clydesdale Bank £5 on a visit last week, I foresee that one being an issue down south.

I avoid Scottish notes as most retailers are wary of accepting them due to the lack of familiarity. It makes good fakes almost impossible to spot.

since pretty much every issued scottish note has a 1:1 face value amount lodged in the BoE vaults

Yes, though the amounts lodged are in Sterling, not gold - so really it's exchanging one promisory note for another.

Most places in England won't take Manx notes either - I've even had a Manx pound coin refused (in WH Smiths at Gatwick airport).
We're expected to accept theirs, of course, mores the pity.

IOM money isn't legal currency anywhere else though. Same as any other overseas island or crown dependency it's a one way currency union (since local goverments can issue as many notes as they like.

Most places will exchange but I never got UK change when I was over there.

Not had any issues spending Scottish money in years (though Clydesdale notes still get funny looks). Irish money though, bet that's a pain to deal with what with the colours all being different.

I also had trouble paying for a sandwich with a Isle of Man £1 coin in my funds,everything else was fine but the Manx £1 was declared 'foreign'..

What's the law regarding receiving one as change? I know shops aren't legally bound to accept them as payment but are you legally bound to accept them as change when buying something in a shop?

Shops aren't legally obliged to even give change 😉

Never had a problem other than the odd quizzical look. Scottish notes are a legal currency but strictly speaking they are not legal tender, even in Scotland. Although legal tender is really only relevant to the issue is settling debts.

There are clear guidelines on what is and isn't legal tender eg how many coins you can use etc

The Commitee of Scottish Bankers does note in its advice that "you should not rely on Scottish notes being accepted outside Scotland and this is particularly true when travelling abroad."

I always used to like getting change for a fiver when I paid with a pound note down south. happened fairly regularly too lol

I have perfected a "Death Stare" over the years which has served me well. Down in Cornwall recently on a wee Ferry and the guy comes round to the collect the money for tickets - "Got any proper ones?" he asked when proffered a Scottish £5 note...

Worst I saw was at the bureau de change in toronto airport - different rates for changing Scottish money than English! They took both, just offered a worse rate for Scotland. That had me ragin'

To me this is perfectly understandable. There are almost certainly higher costs associated with exchanging and dealing with lower circulation notes for a foreign business. If you saw it in the UK, then that would be unacceptable!

Scottish one's aren't hard to shift, northern Irish however are a nightmare as very few places will take them.

I guess this will become a pain again when the SNP announce the new referendum date.

To me this is perfectly understandable. There are almost certainly higher costs associated with exchanging and dealing with lower circulation notes for a foreign business. If you saw it in the UK, then that would be unacceptable!

Really? With that being the almost certain* case why do we not charge different exchange rates on different bank issued Hong Kong Dollars? The note is as good as any other, the value is exactly the same so what justification is there?

*according to who?

StirlingCrispin - Member
Last month in Hertford I had to leave a poured pint standing on the bar because the idiot barman refused to take my Scottish money.

Mate of mine worked in London for years & used to come back to Glasgow every month or so recounting tales of bar staff turning their noses up at Scottish notes for large rounds of fighting strength lager, half of which had already been drank by the time the cash appeared to pay for them... it annoyed him at first but I think he secretly liked causing a scene, even if he had a couple of hundred quid in English notes in his pocket he'd use the Scottish ones first, "out of principal" 😆

To me this is perfectly understandable. There are almost certainly higher costs associated with exchanging and dealing with lower circulation notes for a foreign business. If you saw it in the UK, then that would be unacceptable!

Really? With that being the almost certain* case why do we not charge different exchange rates on different bank issued Hong Kong Dollars? The note is as good as any other, the value is exactly the same so what justification is there?

*according to who?

It's nothing to with exchange rates, it's the cost of processing the physical cash. They're likely to have many many more Bank of England notes than Scottish notes. Both sets will have to be processed/banked separately, economies of scale points to B of E notes being cheaper to process, hence the better rate they can offer. Also they're far more likely to be able to reuse B of E notes buying Canadian Dollars back off people.

Hong Kong is similar but they have three banks for the all of the currency with roughly half issued by one bank and the other two a quarter each. In the UK the vast majority is B of E, then with 3 banks issuing Scottish notes.

Therefore most of what that Bureau de Change will see of Sterling in cash will be B of E, with relatively small amounts of Scottish and NI notes.
Also when reusing the notes, anyone wanting HK dollars is likely to accept the notes regardless of issuing bank. I doubt most looking for Sterling back would accept Scottish or NI notes.