To ask if I can use Scottish £5 note in England?

[fuckingidiotseverywhere]

Sorry, posting for traffic! I've googled but I'm not getting a consistent answer. DD received some cash in cards for Christmas from family, one of which was a Scottish £5 note (we are in England). Partner thinks nowhere will accept this? Would be nice to have an answer in advance before we let DD "pay herself" for some things she wants in a shop (she's 3 so it's novelty for her to hand the money over herself and she's very excited to do so). Obviously we will just replace it for her with an English one if not, but wanted to check in advance. Thank you.

Generally yes you can. Smaller independent shops might baulk at it but supermarkets, department stores etc will accept it.

It's legal tender and as a business I accept them, but lots of people, especially smaller businesses might be weird about it as they aren't sure

Mean! 😂You don’t know until you know.

Most big shops will take it but you will get the odd place which is confused or an assistant who says they don't take foreign money. 🙄 It is a battle we Scots are used to having and contactless makes things a lot easier.

Self-service tills in supermarkets will take them no bother.

Remember many years ago a tv show did an experiment where they tried to spend a Scottish £5 note in various places in England and Wales. Every place north of Sheffield took the note. Midlands it mixed. London- forget it.

At my previous employer, we accepted Scottish notes. One bank does a £100 note. Ok if customer spends £50+.

We never gave the notes as change, cashback or lottery wins

Legally yes you can, but some places may argue against accepting it. You can tell them they're wrong to reject it but you can't do much else about it.

Or you can take it to a bank and change it!

If the rules haven't changed since I last needed to know - the Scottish notes are technically valid in England but shops have the right to refuse them - and sometimes will if they don't feel competent to assess whether a note is a forgery or not. Any bank will happily swap it.

last year a tourist tat shop in Camden tried to give me 3 Scottish fivers as change for my English £20 note. I refused simply because I had no idea what to look for in relation to forged notes.

there was a bit of a discussion with the owner saying I HAD to accept them in my change. I said nope and cancelled the transaction and said I wanted my original £20 back

would have been different if further north or in Scotland, but dodgy area of London. It's a no from me with not knowing what they should look and feel like

@OnTheBoardwalk
yes a bit dodgy.

Think the reason why some retailers don’t like taking Scottish notes as three banks to check - BoS, Royal BoS and Clydesdale Bank

@fuckingidiotseverywhere if it helps the self scans should take them.

If I remember correctly a few years ago there was a spate of ATM robberies in NE Scotland carried out by criminal gangs from NW England so that is probably why shops in Manchester and Liverpool are less likely to accept Scottish notes as they're more likely to be stolen.

I'll see if I can find a news item.

E.g.https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-39631119

since your dd is 3 perhaps she doesnt want the Will they Wont they experience that some people face.
so just swap it for her

As someone said upthread. It's a valid v. legal tender thing.

I've worked for an English branch of a Scottish Bank and what usually happens is that when a retailer pays in a Scottish note into an English bank the cashier removes it from circulation and sends it off to the cash centre to be "repatriated " to the issuing Scottish Bank.

I used to get them refused all the time....apparently it was the easiest to counterfeit 🤨 they are legal tender but the shop can refuse. Best bet is to just pay it into the bank.

They should but you’d be surprised how many people seem to have never heard of Scotland or Northern Ireland when you try use them! Prob would swop for her - but I always used them as an adult.

Technically, they can be accepted in England but our current guidance from the police is not to in our city. We're in the South so don't see many but because of that forgery is high. Gangs come down from other areas of the country and start feeding in forged notes through the pubs and convenience stores. When we get offered one we always refuse it now and direct customers to the bank so they can change them because we can not tell the difference and don't have the facilities to check adequately

I would probably change the notes before your DC goes to the shop - just in case.

If you are around Newcastle it shouldn't be a problem, but if in doubt, swap it for her and use it in s self service till.

Growing up in Scotland I never looked at the different notes just that a fiver was blue, a tenner was brown etc. They were all just banknotes to me.
I went to Wimbledon in 1981 and the general admission was £2. I just handed over two green notes. They guy said " Haven't you any of these?" showing me an English note. I had no idea what he meant.
Nothing much has changed in 44 years it seems

You obviously don't understand what legal tender means and your father sounds like one of those annoying people who have no idea of invitation to treat and makes a show of themselves in shops

I always stock up on Scottish notes when I visit my parents as I almost dare shops to refuse

I’d love to see them refuse you and laugh you out of the shop as you bluster on about things you clearly know nothing about.

I’m English living in Scotland , whenever I go to England I always have at least one shop that looks confused and asks me what they are! I pay by phone now but always used to wait until I got there to get cash out, saves hassle !

Yes, you can.
Scottish money is legal tender in Engand.

So only Bank of England notes are actually classed as legal tender in England and Wales.

@PrincessNannie maybe you should stop ‘stocking up’ to try and prove a point, before you make yourself look silly.

The further south you go, the more like Monopoly money it becomes 🫠😂

Scottish retail manager here - I can’t imagine refusing any bank note other than a fake tbh 😂 But I often get English customers asking me if I have any “proper notes” in the till as they’re heading home soon and don’t want stuck with our “funny notes” 😂

Which has absolutely nothing to do with buying things in shops.