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?

You might be done agnes, though I doubt it, but I'll be carrying on pointing out every time you're revolting. That link doesn't work and if your description of what it says is accurate it wouldn't refute the point anyway. As if anyone said the majority of migrants worked in retail and hospitality. You said something problematic and instead of just accepting that when it was pointed out you're screeching about trolls. As if you could possibly give any moral lessons to anyone after that imaginary migrant worker line.

Scottish notes are made of different materials and it is easier to make a more realistic looking fake.

Scottish £10 and £5 notes are all plastic too. Have been for longer than the bank of england ones. £20 notes are paper. As are the English ones.

I've only ever had a Scottish note refused once, in Superdrug in Guildford and the very young cashier looked terrified of it. She wouldn't call anyone to verify it for her - which did annoy me as she also couldn't tell me for certain that they didn't accept them as a rule. She handled it badly

That's interesting, not that far from me and I have been in that store. But yes, if you don't know, you should call a manager. That's common sense and what I did when I got a Northern Irish note at the age of 15 which I had never seen before (and at the time Ireland used punts, so it wasn't immediately clear where it was from).

Not surprised a young sales assistant didn't use common sense though. I was in a local hairdresser recently who had been advertising special deals on shampoo on their instagram page. I got the last one and I said that they needed to take down the instagram post if they'd run out. The girl just gave me a sulky look. If she didn't understand the law on advertising, she should have asked her boss.

Not sure why the shops are so silly about it though because the banks will take them whatever. Even Channel Islands and Isle of Man notes can be exchanged in a bank because my son went to the IoM and had some money left when he came back, which my mum helped him exchange in a bank (though I think it has to be a bank, Nationwide couldn't or wouldn't do it).

@Babdoc mentioned a bill to make Scottish notes legal tender in England. The bill is the Legal Tender (Scottish Banknotes) Bill - a private members bill from Alistair Carmichael - LibDem MP for Orkney & Shetland.

Unfortunately this bill appears to go too far in that it wants to oblige businesses and companies to accept Scottish banknotes as payment, not just make them legal tender. This means that a shop (or even a bus driver) would be forced to accept a Scottish £100 note for payment of a £2 charge. Scottish Tory David Mundell had a similar Bill defeated some years ago, and I doubt if this latest one will survive either.

Incidently, there is no legal obligation to give a buyer change - it is the buyer's responsibility to present the correct amount - giving change is goodwill on the part of the seller.

Used to work as a lawyer at the Bank of England.

Hope this helps.

www.bankofengland.co.uk/knowledgebank/what-is-legal-tender

I’m Northern Irish, by the way, and it STILL rips my knitting when my “home” notes are refused in England.

@isabellerossignol

Sorry I should have been clearer, it was the system we used in the store to register we had them, rather than at an actual bank

Although I live in England my bank is Scottish. I once tried to pay in some Scottish notes to my account in its London office and had them refused because they were issued by a different Scottish bank. When even the Scottish banks in England won't take them it seems a bit unfair to complain about shops etc. not accepting them.

A pen or UV light will sort a fake out very easily. English bank notes are faked more than Scottish or Irish notes.

Nope, false.

Scottish £10 and £5 notes are all plastic too. Have been for longer than the bank of england ones. £20 notes are paper. As are the English ones.

Again, incorrect. Scottish notes contain plastic but are not made of plastic, in fact it's a completely different substance than the English fiver and tenner and the soon to be twenty.

For a shop to be have all the different kit to tell fake vs. forgery it would cost a lot of money - uv pens and lights are useless on the new English notes. They could buy scanners, but they cost hundreds. Then you have to train every cashier how to use the different equipment and even just to know which bit of kit to use on which note.

It's easier to just refuse to accept them.

No such thing as Irish notes. We have the Euro still. There are Northern Irish notes of course.