Non-motoring > Would you take a Scottish bank note?	Miscellaneous
Thread Author: Iffy	Replies: 44

Tue 14 Sep 10 15:44   Would you take a Scottish bank note? - Iffy

Just treated myself to a proper sit down lunch in a steak house. I paid the £13-odd bill with two tenners. Among my change was a Scottish £5 note. Yes, it's legal tender, but I reckon it might be difficult to pass it elsewhere around here. I'm just outside Durham City, hardly close to Scotland, which is the best part of 100 miles away. Would you have taken the note in the same circumstances? Reply to this message | Report message

Tue 14 Sep 10 15:46   Would you take a Scottish bank note? - Tooslow

No, simply on the grounds that I know I'll not be able to pass it on. John Reply to this message | Report message

Tue 14 Sep 10 15:56   Would you take a Scottish bank note? - idle_chatterer

Before my recent sojourn abroad I travelled regularly to Edinburgh and brought Scottish notes back home in my change. I never had any problem passing Scottish notes in London or the Home Counties. Many years ago when I lived in the Midlands I had quite a different experience with the notes being refused by people who possibly confused them with the (then) Irish Punt. The difference between these two experiences might merely be the elapsed time (15 or 20 years) but I suspect that some parts of the country are more used to seeing Scottish notes than others ? You can always change them at a bank or post office..... Reply to this message | Report message

Tue 14 Sep 10 15:50   Would you take a Scottish bank note? - CGNorwich

"Yes, it's legal tender", No its not. Reply to this message | Report message

Tue 14 Sep 10 15:51   Would you take a Scottish bank note? - John H

>> Yes, it's legal tender, but I reckon it might be difficult to pass it elsewhere >> around here. >> NOT legal tender in England, and possibly may not be legal tender in Scotland either.. www.bankofengland.co.uk/banknotes/about/faqs.htm#16 Are Scottish & Northern Irish notes legal tender? In short ‘No’ these notes are not legal tender; only Bank of England notes are legal tender but only in England and Wales. www.scotbanks.org.uk/legal_position.php Last edited by: John H on Tue 14 Sep 10 at 15:55 Reply to this message | Report message

Tue 14 Sep 10 15:56   Would you take a Scottish bank note? - Iffy

Seems we're into legal semantics for the second time today. From the Bank of England website: "The term legal tender does not in itself govern the acceptability of banknotes in transactions. "Whether or not notes have legal tender status, their acceptability as a means of payment is essentially a matter for agreement between the parties involved. "In ordinary everyday transactions, the term ‘legal tender’ has very little practical application." I'm prepared to bet my bank in England will change the Scottish note, or let me pay it in. Reply to this message | Report message

Tue 14 Sep 10 16:07   Would you take a Scottish bank note? - Bromptonaut

Happily accept. Never had a problem passing them in London and the shops at Euston must see them everyday. Village shop at home in northants had no problem with the Clydesdale tenner I brought back from Stornoway!! Reply to this message | Report message

Tue 14 Sep 10 16:10   Would you take a Scottish bank note? - CGNorwich

Your bank will undoubtedly accept a scottish note but you are perfectly entitled to refuse to accept such a note and because a lot of shops won't accept them I would not either. The biggest problem is that staff are unfamiliar with them and the further away from the border you are the bigger the problem becomes. There are also a lot of forged scottish notes in circulation which is another reason they are mistrusted. Reply to this message | Report message

Tue 14 Sep 10 16:08   Would you take a Scottish bank note? - Zero

you dont have to accept it in your change, and I wouldnt. Reply to this message | Report message

Tue 14 Sep 10 16:22   Would you take a Scottish bank note? - R.P.

I got 1600 quid in 50 pound Scottish notes when I sold a bike on e-bay a few years ago - not problems with them, paid them into my account via an RBS Branch. I also spent a Sottish tenner I found in a book I bought on a very nice lunch despite being in Wales at the time. No issues. Reply to this message | Report message

Tue 14 Sep 10 16:26   Would you take a Scottish bank note? - Old Navy

I frequently use Scottish notes in all parts of the UK and I can't remember the last time one was refused. Anyway I am allowed to use them as I live in Scotland. :) If you don't want them I will spend them in someone else's business. Last edited by: Old Navy on Tue 14 Sep 10 at 16:30 Reply to this message | Report message

Tue 14 Sep 10 16:32   Would you take a Scottish bank note? - Fenlander

They can be hard to get rid of in our Fenland town.... doesn't help that the locals haven't really heard of anywhere north of Boston (Lincs). Reply to this message | Report message

Tue 14 Sep 10 16:39   Would you take a Scottish bank note? - Old Navy

I have remembered the last refusal, a young NZ or Australian girl in a small shop on her own. She had obviously not seen them before and was worried in case she did the wrong thing. Mrs ON had some English notes so I didn't harass the youngster. That one was fair enough. EDIT :- I must be going soft in my old age! Last edited by: Old Navy on Tue 14 Sep 10 at 16:40 Reply to this message | Report message

Tue 14 Sep 10 16:40   Would you take a Scottish bank note? - R.P.

It's the same hereabouts - apart from the heady cosmopolitan Pete's Eats in Llanberis where I spent my tenner. The Belgian guy who bought my GS wanted to pay me in UK 50s - I declined....and insisted on 20s. Reply to this message | Report message

Tue 14 Sep 10 16:57   Would you take a Scottish bank note? - RattleandSmoke

I've never had a problem with taking Scottish notes to the bank :). Reply to this message | Report message

Tue 14 Sep 10 17:16   Would you take a Scottish bank note? - movilogo

Some shops do refuse to take Scottish notes or even older English notes! Some others accept them without question. I even had Scottish notes exchanged for Euro outside UK at Thomas Cook counter without a fuss. But you can always deposit them to banks. Last edited by: movilogo on Tue 14 Sep 10 at 17:17 Reply to this message | Report message

Tue 14 Sep 10 17:33   Would you take a Scottish bank note? - bathtub tom

I'll give you ten bob for it. Reply to this message | Report message

Tue 14 Sep 10 17:50   Would you take a Scottish bank note? - Iffy

...I'll give you ten bob for it... I'd rather give it to C4P's resident pauper. Would put some food on his table for a day or two. Reply to this message | Report message

Tue 14 Sep 10 17:57   Would you take a Scottish bank note? - Marc

"I'll give you ten bob for it" Recently the cash machine at work was bust one day so I borrowed a fiver from a colleague. I repaid him the next day with a Scottish fiver that I had in the house. He wasn't pleased. Another colleague offered him four quid for it. Reply to this message | Report message

Tue 14 Sep 10 18:01   Would you take a Scottish bank note? - Manatee

>>He wasn't pleased. I'm not surprised. Remind me never to lend you any money! Reply to this message | Report message

Tue 14 Sep 10 18:04   Would you take a Scottish bank note? - Marc

The alternatives were five bags of copper or some of the kids' Monopoly money... Reply to this message | Report message

Tue 14 Sep 10 18:18   Would you take a Scottish bank note? - Soft Top

I'd take a Scottish note and have done many times in the past. Never had trouble in passing them on. I'm not so sure I'd take them in large quantities though because of the forgery risk. These days, I work on the south coast with several very proud Scots who love to see "their" notes occasionally. Reply to this message | Report message

Tue 14 Sep 10 18:38   Would you take a Scottish bank note? - ....

>> Would you have taken the note in the same circumstances? >> Was it service included ? If not, maybe the staff were having dig at you. :) If you'd given a 15% tip none of this would be discussed now. Reply to this message | Report message

Tue 14 Sep 10 18:45   Would you take a Scottish bank note? - Iffy

...Was it service included ? If not, maybe the staff were having dig at you... I asked for the bill at the table, it came, I gave the waiter two tenners, he took those and returned with the change on a plate. When I saw the Scottish fiver, I did wonder if the staff were hoping I would leave it. Ploy might have worked on a bigger bill, but I'm not leaving a 40 per cent tip. Reply to this message | Report message

Tue 14 Sep 10 19:05   Would you take a Scottish bank note? - Runfer D'Hills

Wouldn't bother me at all, why should it ? We all get coins with different stuff embossed ( or is it debossed I can never remember ) on them. Any bank will take them and if a retailer refused one I'd buy my fags elsewhere...forever ! Reply to this message | Report message

Tue 14 Sep 10 19:42   Would you take a Scottish bank note? - Bellboy

i would take it or them ,plenty of places i know wont take scortish money though,so a definative answer is undefinate in the equilibriam of life md will know what i mean.... Reply to this message | Report message

Tue 14 Sep 10 19:50   Would you take a Scottish bank note? - MD

Currently moving from red to pedigree BB. Thanks for the reference! Reply to this message | Report message

Tue 14 Sep 10 19:59   Would you take a Scottish bank note? - Mike Hannon

>>I also spent a Sottish tenner I found in a book I bought on a very nice lunch<< Just before we left England SWMBO paid a quid in a secondhand shop in Weymouth for a hardback copy of the collected short stories of Somerset Maugham. She had flicked through it, and suddenly paid the guy quickly and hustled me out of the shop. 200 quid in new tenners fell out of it. We had a few nice lunches on that one. We're still arguing over theories of how they came to be there... Reply to this message | Report message

Tue 14 Sep 10 20:26   Would you take a Scottish bank note? - MD

Once found £75 in new fivers under the floorboards in a flood damaged house in Wembley. Owned by an old 4x2 IIRC. Reply to this message | Report message

Tue 14 Sep 10 21:03   Would you take a Scottish bank note? - swiss tony

I once nearly gained a fifty pound note for £20... a young work colleague was showing it off (his 1st) I looked at it and told him it was a fake. ''how can you tell'' he asked. I got a fresh sheet of A4, and rubbed the note on it, then showed him the A4 now had discoloured, and had a patch of £50 ink on it. '' see, the inks still wet'' said I. '' I give ya £20 for it'' He very nearly fell for it........ Last edited by: swiss tony on Tue 14 Sep 10 at 21:03 Reply to this message | Report message

Tue 14 Sep 10 21:08   Would you take a Scottish bank note? - MD

Swiss eh! Reply to this message | Report message

Wed 15 Sep 10 05:34   Would you take a Scottish bank note? - Ian (Cape Town)

Was in Rome in the 80s, and the banks were offering ~2000 lire for english pounds, and ~1800 for the scottish ones. the Jocks in the party were not best pleased... Reply to this message | Report message

Wed 15 Sep 10 07:41   Would you take a Scottish bank note? - Pat

I've taken numerous Scottish bank notes when delivering in Scotland and never once had them refused anywhere in England. Pat Reply to this message | Report message

Wed 15 Sep 10 08:08   Would you take a Scottish bank note? - Cliff Pope

They are quite common in west Wales. We get lots used in payment by customers, and no one has ever looked twice at them in change. There was some hesitation about RBS notes a few years ago when the bank was about to go bust. Reply to this message | Report message

Wed 15 Sep 10 09:39   Would you take a Scottish bank note? - Iffy

...banks were offering ~2000 lire for english pounds, and ~1800 for the scottish ones.... Reminds me of a tale I was told by motor trader who was active in London in the 1950s. Some people were reluctant to accept what were called 'white fivers', after the Bank of England announced a replacement multi-coloured £5 note. This led to two-tier pricing of cars, so a trader might say: "The car's £100, or £120 'white'." Reply to this message | Report message

Wed 15 Sep 10 09:47   Would you take a Scottish bank note? - Old Navy

Although I use Scottish notes frequently in the UK I always take BofE notes abroad. My bank (Clydesdale. Australian owned), will always change Scottish notes for BofE notes or I can ask for BofE notes when withdrawing cash. In fact when I ask the staff usually ask where I am off to. Last edited by: Old Navy on Wed 15 Sep 10 at 09:49 Reply to this message | Report message

Wed 15 Sep 10 11:21   Would you take a Scottish bank note? - L'escargot

Apparently, at the moment, it's up to the individual whether they acept a Scottish banknote. On that basis I wouldn't accept one, in case I couldn't pass it on news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/north_east/7161728.stm. Reply to this message | Report message

Wed 15 Sep 10 11:45   Would you take a Scottish bank note? - vitesse

I just accept them and pass them on without comment. Since banks seem to find them interchangeable with english currency I can't see the problem vitesse Reply to this message | Report message

Wed 15 Sep 10 12:21   Would you take a Scottish bank note? - RichardW

Would have insisted on it - don't want any of that funny Monoploy money you have South of the border! What's with those weirdo purple £20 notes you've got now???? Reply to this message | Report message

Wed 15 Sep 10 13:10   Would you take a Scottish bank note? - Cliff Pope

As the BoE seems incapable of printing new £5 notes to replace the insufficient supply of tatty bits of paper we now put up with, perhaps the Scottish banks would like to take over this duty? Just a curious enquiry - why do Scottish banknotes never have pictures of the Queen of Scotland on them? Reply to this message | Report message

Wed 15 Sep 10 13:30   Would you take a Scottish bank note? - Tooslow

That would be Elizabeth 1st? John Reply to this message | Report message

Wed 15 Sep 10 13:47   Would you take a Scottish bank note? - Zero

>> Just a curious enquiry - why do Scottish banknotes never have pictures of the Queen >> of Scotland on them? because there isnt one, we brits killed the last one 500 years ago and the jocks were too tight to get another. Reply to this message | Report message

Wed 15 Sep 10 13:49   Would you take a Scottish bank note? - BobbyG

When travelling down South I usually find that petrol stations are more than willing to accept Scottish notes, especially when the fuel is in my tank and that is all I am offering them for payment!! Reply to this message | Report message

Wed 15 Sep 10 16:00   Would you take a Scottish bank note? - Iffy

Mission accomplished. Scottish fiver exchanged this lunchtime for a cheese sandwich and four finger Kit-Kat in the canteen in Chester-le-Street town hall. And some change - the canteen's open to the public, but the prices are very reasonable. The cashier didn't bat an eyelid, even though my nerves must have shown. Will now be able to sleep easy tonight. Reply to this message | Report message

Wed 15 Sep 10 16:26   Would you take a Scottish bank note? - Zero

Some poor sap got that in change from a real tenner. I bet it was out the till faster than chips on a friday night. Reply to this message | Report message