Popped into a shop of a national grocery chain in England yesterday afternoon, hoping they'd sell cases of Becks as requested by my pal who was visiting with his family later that day.

£7.99 for 12 bottles.

Counter assistant said they would only process a debit card payment of £10 or more. Checked my wallet and only had a Scottish £20 note. Assistant shook his head and said words to the effect "We don't accept Scottish money". I quietly asked why not. The shop was fairly busy and he then shouted right across the shop to his colleague that I had a Scottish note. His colleague shouted back words to the effect that "English banks won't accept them from us." A fair sized queue was formed behind me.

Embarrassed, quietly annoyed and unconvinced by the reason for this decline, miffed, I told the chap I'd just forget it and go somewhere else.

As I walked away, an Englishman interjected with "Excuse me, this is Britain after all, what's wrong with his money! I'll take your £20 mate if you're okay with two tenners.!"

Two more queuing customers then chipped in with their examples of having had no problems with Scottish currency in England.

Unreasonable nonsense on the part of the shopkeepers?

Whatever, it's the little things that make the difference. A nice and thoroughly decent gesture from a complete stranger!



Last edited by pld118 on 19th Aug 2014 6:37am. Edited 1 time in total

Had the same experience many times, technically Scottish currency is NOT legal tender but most places take it. You have seen what I and many others have, we are a UNITED kingdom, no one wants the Scots to leave but we are making it hard for people to like us at the moment ( guess where my votes going )

From the Bank of England website: -

Quote:

Are Scottish & Northern Ireland banknotes "legal tender"?
In short ‘No’ these banknotes are not "legal tender"; furthermore, Bank of England banknotes are only legal tender in England and Wales. Legal tender has, however, a very narrow technical meaning in relation to the settlement of debt. If a debtor pays in legal tender the exact amount he/she owes under the terms of a contract (and in accordance with its terms), or pays this amount into court, he/she has good defence in law if he/she is sued for non-payment of the debt.

In ordinary everyday transactions, the term "legal tender" in its purest sense need not govern a banknote's acceptability in transactions. The acceptability of a Scottish or Northern Ireland banknote as a means of payment is essentially a matter for agreement between the parties involved. If both parties are in agreement, Scottish and Northern Ireland banknotes can be used in England and Wales. Holders of genuine Scottish and Northern Ireland banknotes are provided with a level of protection similar to that provided to holders of Bank of England banknotes. This is because the issuing banks must back their banknote issue using a combination of Bank of England banknotes, UK coin and funds in an interest bearing bank account at the Bank of England.

Actually had a shop assistant call security when I tried to use Scottish money at a record shop in Lincoln many years ago..made a real fuss that I was trying to pass fake notes until he was put in his place by an elderly lady also in the shop at the time. It went from really embarrassing to really funny in 10 seconds... '08 Audi S6 Avant 5.2 V10 with Milltek non-resonated. Vrrrrrrmmmmmph
'59 Ford Kuga Diesel (boring but AWD and 40mpg...)
2007 (07) Subaru Forester XTen 2.5 Turbo. (Roundabouts are fun again!)
2007 (07) 4.4 V8 Vogue (gone)

Won't be a problem when the Scots have the Euro, although that's even less welcome than a Scottish tenner  Geoff

Am I right in thinking that the Scottish suburb of Englandshire doens't have £100 note where as Scotland does??

I once sold a piece of farm equipment and got paid in £100 notes - you should have seen the ladies face in the filling station in Kendal, Cumbria, when I tried to pay with one!!!!! Hence my belief that only Scotland has them.

With such unity what is this YES / NO vote all about

I'll admit to not knowing the first thing about Scottish money, how it came about or the technicalities of "is it legal tender" etc ....

....But....

How and why DID Scottish banknotes come to exist? Seems to me that creating your own regional currency while a member of a union that already has an established currency, then complaining when it doesn't get accepted seems a bit stupid.

My wife went into several banks in Dubai with Scottish (RBS, not Clydesdale, which are questionable even in Englandshire) notes and all but 1 refused to even consider changing them. The only 1 who would, made a ridiculously miserable exchange rate, which worked out at around 75% of the same value BofE note!!! Got - 2017 SDV8 Autobiography in Loire Blue
Had- 2008 TDV8 Vogue SE in Java black
Had - 2007 S/C in Stornoway Grey

Not sure how the whole currency thing came about - I presume it was a union of the two countries currencies when the union was first formed. The Scottish notes are issued by the Bank Of Scotland and not the Bank Of England (not sure why there isn't a Bank Of Wales!!) but here's the rub:-

Scottish notes are NOT LEGAL TENDER in Scotland Neither are Bank Of England ones
Scottish notes ARE LEGAL CURRENCY however.

All very confusing if you try and understand too much about it - all I know is it works and living in the Scottish Borders both types of notes pass freely and no-ones bats an eyelid. It's only when we stray too far south of the border that we have problems.

^ What I posted earlier.

Soz Kurt!!

Katash wrote:

I'll admit to not knowing the first thing about Scottish money, how it came about or the technicalities of "is it legal tender" etc ....

....But....

How and why DID Scottish banknotes come to exist? Seems to me that creating your own regional currency while a member of a union that already has an established currency, then complaining when it doesn't get accepted seems a bit stupid.

Devils advocate but... technically that point works in reverse... why do England use English notes when they are a member of a union? Or is the thinking the English part of the union is more important so only notes stating bank of England are acceptable, if so it probably explains why the independence referendum is happening. The Scottish banknote has been around for a longer time than you think.  09 TDV8 Westminster, Mariana Black, Rear seat entertainment, hatch bag and 2 slobbery mutts