SAers nightmare - getting a Scottish banknote in an English shop and other unusual £

[ElektroPunk Mindwarp Jelly]

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.

[Runner]

strange foreign looking £ notes and coins

Scotland - foreign??! Seriously, as a Welshman living in Scotland (don't ask!) I do occasionally get English notes in change etc. These are freely accepted here, so why the reverse problem down south I'm not too sure - it's legal tender, after all. Interestingly, the 3 main Scottish banks (RBS, Bank of Scotland and Clydesdale) all issue their own notes - they also have Lloyds TSB up here. At least they've got rid of pound notes which lasted a lot longer here than in England - they were in use when I lived/worked in Edinburgh from 1988-90.

[Richard]

Every time i get Scottish bank notes, i rip them up.

Fight the power ..

why do they get their own bank anyway?

[Runner]

Every time i get Scottish bank notes, i rip them up

Must be nice to be flush! I assume Scottish banks have always had the power to issue their own bank notes...

[Winnie57]

Last week I was given a fake £2 coin in the local Costcutters. In all innocence I then tried to spend it in the bakers. I was told by the assistant that it was a fake so I had to take it back to Costcutters.
I told the young lad behind the counter that I'd been given the coin there and he said: "It's not a fake - it's just worn!"
He did however exchange it for two pound coins. I then had to return to the bakers to pay for my goods with the now legitimate coinage.
In doing this I had to face two queues of people - one in the bakers and one in Costcutters.
Apparently there's a lot of these fakes around at the moment and they look genuine. The only difference is in the weight so as Splonky advises, check your change before you leave the shop. Saves a lot of embarrassment!

[Peasie]

Originally Posted by Richard

Every time i get Scottish bank notes, i rip them up.

Fight the power ..

why do they get their own bank anyway?

Which bank issues your bank notes?