Scottish and Norther Irish Banknotes

[paulears]

Is it not about time we English, decided to acknowledge that English Pounds are not the only valid currency in the UK. As I travel from NI to England frequently I'm used to being told "we don't take foreign money", and in one funny exchange, Barclays Bank were looking in their photo book of foreign money for NI bank notes - couldn't;t find them and declared the money invalid. Only an Irish cashier saved the day - it's not foreign, she said, it's Stirling - and has the queens head on it! Even worse is one NI bank is Danske Bank - so a Danish bank!

Today the hub in the post office was told to change them he had to pay them into his account, so he paid in £1000, then discovered he had a £250 a day cash limit. He asked for his money back, but couldn't have it!

If we go to Scotland or Northern Ireland, they take our money, and many in NI take Euros too, but here, trying to buy a round of drinks with a Bank of Scotland note is painful.

Education not just of the public, but bank and post office staff is pathetic. There is no problem taking Scottish stirling notes, other than they are different and get banks separately.

We are supposed to be a United Kingdom, but why is England so restrictive on what the actual notes are? The Northern Irish cope with numerous different tenners and twenties and even have a Hundred Pound note. They never query the money - even when it has the Queen's head on it - and you would expect that could be a problem but is not.

Why do us English think our versions of notes are the only valid ones? Ignorance?

 

[Mark T Jones]

I've seldom had a problem with Scottish notes.

Though they aren't strictly legal tender, they are 'permissive tender' (from memory), which means it is basically the recipient's choice whether to accept them

 

[Paul Norman]

Living near the borders here, we often end up with Scottish notes in our wallets.

I have never had anyone refuse to accept them, and, of course, in Scotland they do not complain about receiving 'English' money.

I suspect a few miles further south it might all change! But you are correct. As things stand, it is rather silly that this situation ever arises. Of course, when the UK breaks up.......

 

[Newchodge]

Having spent some time working in retail, I would suggest that the problem is recognition. I could tell straight away if there was something dodgy about an English note and was trained in what to look for. Scottish notes are not uniform like English ones, so someone could hand over a note and I would not have a clue whether it was genuine or, more importantly, how to tell. NI notes are even worse, not because they are less trustworthy but because they are even less common than Scottish ones, so even harder to be sure they are the real thing.

The banks, however, should definitely know better. Not so sure about the post office.

 

[Gordon - Commercial Finance]

You guys are still using cash???? Wild

I can understand people being reticent in accepting Scottish and NI notes - they're not accustomed to handling them and so retail people get stressed that they might not recognise if its a fake. In fairness, we Scots haven't made it easy for English by making our money actually look fake....it looks like play money!

I once got a train to London and got into a black cab to go to my hotel. I handed over a crisp £20 note which happened to be Scottish, and the driver looked at me and said "do you have anything smaller?" but actually the implication was "do you have anything English?"..

I said to him "look sorry mate but I've just got off a train from Scotland....I only have Scottish notes! You either need to accept that or you're not getting paid I'm afraid". He examined it carefully and I heard him narrating out loud "right ok royal bank of scotland ok yep there's a line there and there's Queenie there...."

The Scottish notes are supposedly more secure and more durable...so if we're standardising (which we should) then that's probably the way to go, but based on circulation numbers that's never going to happen.

 

[paulears]

Here in east Anglia, you wont have an easy time with anything other than English notes. We’re terribly suspicious. When notes change people don’t remember and try to use old ones. banks hate money here. I tried to change a pile of euros in Santander, that failed. So I tried to pay them in. That failed as they don’t do international money. I asked where I should go, they sent me to Tesco, who happily changed it.

 

[Bob Morgan]

In my 'Outpost-Office' in SE Asia we deal with quite a few Asian Currencies together with those from the Middle East, and of course the USD! Supermarkets usually have a desk where currencies can be exchanged. 'CASH IS KING!' Along from the Exchange Bureau there are desks for the payment of Mortgages and Utility Bills, etc.

On one occasion I had a collection of notes that I wanted to exchange into local currency - Scottish, Northern Irish, UAE Dirhams, SA Riyals, and £50 Notes from the UK! - Everything happened like 'Clockwork!' - No objections whatsoever!

 

[UKSBD]

On one occasion I had a collection of notes that I wanted to exchange into local currency - Scottish, Northern Irish, UAE Dirhams, SA Riyals, and £50 Notes from the UK! - Everything happened like 'Clockwork!' - No objections whatsoever!

The thing is, if there were any bad ones they would just pass them on to someone else anyway

 

[Paul Norman]

I have to admit that I would probably not be able to tell a decent forgery of notes from any nation - Scotland or England or Northern Island. I suspect the honest truth is that I am far from alone in this regard.

Cash, of course, is not cleared funds. If I take your cash to my bank and they spot a forgery, I am the one standing the loss.

For that reason, in the rare event someone pays me using cash, I would not regard the debt as cleared until my bank has accepted the cash.

None of this is really relevant, of course, because I simply cannot remember the last time someone paid one of my invoices using cash.

 

[AnneBoleyn]

Isn't it something along the lines that the Bank of England is a central bank and the lender of last resort for the whole of the UK, and the law permits it to issue notes.
Scottish and NI notes are issued by commercial banks which have a licence to issue those notes (unlike any English commercial bank).

As a former bank teller in Scotland, the rule was I could hand out my bank's notes and BofE notes at the counter, but I was not allowed to hand over either of the other two Scottish bank's notes.
Every evening there was a big swap between the 3 Scottish commercial banks where they physically handed over the notes they had taken in over the counter that day.
As a teller, I used to have to keep them in separate piles.

I live in England now and have never failed to pay in cash with Scottish notes, but I know its a pain for the person receiving the notes because they won't be able to re-use them.

 

[japancool]

It's when they try to pay with Welsh pound notes that you need to get suspicious.

 

[fisicx]

Intrigued by the question I thought I's look up the definition of legal tender:

What is legal tender?

Many people are confused about this – it is more about settling debts than how you pay for things in shops

www.bankofengland.co.uk

And interestingly Scottish banknotes (not coins) aren't even legal tender in Scotland:

Committee of Commercial Banknote Issuers

www.scotbanks.org.uk

All of which means you have the right to refuse any banknote in payment.

 

[japancool]

All of which means you have the right to refuse any banknote in payment.

You can anyway. Legal tender in the UK only means it has to be accepted to settle a court debt.

 

[Scalloway]

As a former bank teller in Scotland, the rule was I could hand out my bank's notes and BofE notes at the counter, but I was not allowed to hand over either of the other two Scottish bank's notes.
Every evening there was a big swap between the 3 Scottish commercial banks where they physically handed over the notes they had taken in over the counter that day.

I remember those days. I used to cash up for a licensed club for banking. I had to sort the notes into separate bundle for each bank. The banks changed their policy in the past 15 years or so and now they just accept any bank's notes in a bundle.