Everyone south of the boarder must have at some point been given a Bank of Scotland note by a cashier. It happened last week at Ryman, the lad who gave me a £5 Scottish note did say to me "is that alright ?" to which I said "yeah its okay". What I thought of later on is managing to spend this note in a shop without it being rejected. I knew perfectly well that it was legal tender but not all retailers, ticket offices etc.. in England will immediately take a Scottish not without fuss.
I worked at a till once and told a lady from Scotland that I probably shouldn't accept her Scottish note and asked for coins or an English note instead - she got quite annoyed and must have had this problem before and said "well if its that much of a problem then here..have a normal £5". I was young and experienced at the time so it was only later that I found out that alll Scottish notes are valid legal tender.
The London Underground ticket office refused to take my Isle of Man £ coins which should also be legal tender here (GB sterling)...or is it not
I managed to get rid of it at a shop by sneaking it in with a handful of other coins eventually.
Please share your own stories on having to get rid of strange foreign looking £ notes and coins. I suppose the English note looks funny and foreign up there in Scotland, no Queen staring up at you.