It's legal tender

[iwoulddoanything]

I'm sure by the title, you can guess where I live

Every day, without fail, I get asked for English notes back in change (manage a large store but often have to jump on tills). Or if I'm in England (actually where I'm from btw), they won't accept my money. I just don't get it. It is legal tender but people still refuse it (when I pay) or don't want it in change (when they're visiting Scotland ). It actually has sterling written on it when English notes don't as far as I'm aware. I just don't get it. And people wonder why Scottish people are fed up of being part of a union which seems our money (the exact same as 'english' money) as less than, or a phrase I hear every few weeks, 'monopoly' money. AIBU?

It's entirely up to individual shops which notes they accept, many won't take an English £50 as it's hard to spot a forgery.

@NoParticularPattern but why should they logically reject legal currency?

But they don't take £20/£10/£5 most of the time

Our local shop doesn't accept them as they've had a high percentage of fake ones.

So why don't they want to accept them?

I am not "them" so I don't know. The same reason they don't have to accept £50 if they don't want to 🤷🏻‍♀️

I wouldn't want one given to me in England as I have no idea what they should look like.

I used to have a second job at a cinema and they rolled out a policy not to take them as apparently it was a pain in the ass to a) get rid of them (as no one wanted them back in change) and b) bank them (perhaps higher fees?).

Difference is that I live down in the South East, so far less common and probably easier to fake as people wouldn't know otherwise. I would find it strange if places just over the border where that fussy though.

I know @SoupDragon , sorry if you felt I was calling you 'them'. I just feel training on the matter would help re fake ones because It just doesn't seem fair or equal

Can I suggest it's worth looking at the difference between legal currency and legal tender? It's actually quite interesting ...

@Alarae I used to work in a supermarket that was blank policy on not accepting them. Just doesn't seem fair.

In Scotland you would surely accept Scottish notes though?

Yes, I would. However, if you wanted to pass off fake notes as genuine, the place to do it would surely be in England/Scotland with the other country's notes.

So many people are purposely misunderstanding the OP and are coming across very ignorant.

Scottish notes have the same standing as English notes in the circumstances they are describing. I’ve even not had Scottish notes accepted in London and it’s very frustrating. Shops can use the same process as they use with English notes to determine if it is fake or not.

Thank you @franklyshankly2 , you summed it up pretty well.

Shops can use the same process as they use with English notes to determine if it is fake or not

Out of interest I've just looked at a couple of manufacturers, and it appears the automatic fake detectors many now use don't work on Scottish and Irish banknotes ... so I guess that might be another hurdle?

I'm Scottish. I handed over a Northern Irish £10 in a Scottish shop and they refused to take it. Annoying as I had to pay by card, but I just spent it in the next shop.

It's generally ignorance when they are refused - reflects badly on the business and the individual, but hey ho.

When my brother comes up to Scotland he takes a load of Scottish bank notes back with him so he discuss this point with his staff and not put them in the position of embrassing customers.

I work in a small, independent family run shop in the south of England. We get multiple Scottish notes a week. We never refuse them and as the person that always does the banking, the bank has never, ever batted an eyelid or questioned them and we have never had a fake (as opposed to plenty of English 20's). Personally I would happily accept them in my shop, but if I didn't have a shop I wouldn't be overly happy to receive one as a customer, purely because I know other shops probably would refuse them!! (We would never give Scottish notes out as change as we know it would make people uncomfortable to accept).

The number of fake Scottish notes made us to change a policy on them too.

So many people are purposely misunderstanding the OP and are coming across very ignorant

The op said "It is legal tender" - where is the scope for misunderstanding that statement? It's a false assertion which posters rightly challenged, it was quite a way down the thread that she backtracked on what she meant

I've lived in Scotland for a while, go down to England three/four times a year and every time, the shops won't accept it (but the self service desks will).

You've been extraordinarily unlucky then.

I’ve never seen a Scottish note and only occasionally seen NI notes as we used to be given the occasionally in the south of Ireland. Most people wouldn’t have a clue if they were fake and training won’t work on something you barely ever see

I spent a lot of last year driving to and from Dornoch. I noticed I could usually get to about Scotch corner before spending Scottish notes got difficult, sometimes Leeds. Had to spend it before I got home or save it for my next trip up.

@bigshiplittleboat LOL yep! We have to do "currency exchange" for our relatives when they visit from Wales. I love the NI notes though.

Shops need to get either one of these
www.scotbanks.org.uk/asset/F9425297-3B52-458A-97DFA6222061AEAB/

Or one of these
www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00BWYPYVS/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_q0qJDbEHVDP4Y?tag=mumsnetforu03-21

"I've lived in Scotland for a while, go down to England three/four times a year and every time, the shops won't accept it (but the self service desks will)"

just use self service desk then, job done. the quickest if people don't faf about, you don't have to talk to anyone, in-out.

end of.

just withdraw money on the high street your on.

better yet bloody con-tactless tap done.

why are you even carrying cash these days.... dodgy tax dodger? literally the only reason to be dealing in cash only to avoid tax.....

But wouldn't a bank forget detector pen detect a fake?

No because the notes are made by different printers and so their make up is fundamentally different.

What works on a Scottish note won't work on an English one, and vice versa.