How to disconcert a Scottish shopkeeper

hunnymonster

hunnymonster

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Typically when you proffer a Scottish banknote in England more than 50 miles from the border, it gets scrutinised like it's monopoly money with jobbie smeared on it... I tried this today...

I bought some stuff (Wilkinson shave sticks) in the chemists deep in Scotland and offered a Royal Bank tenner for the £1.86 sale - she gave me an English fiver in the change and I checked it extremely thoroughly and handed it back and said (in my obviously English accent) "I don't take foreign notes". You should have seen her face :lol:

Can't wait until the next time we head down to Cheshire (I've just got a pile of UlsterBank & BoI notes after chatting to some bikers at the Kelso Bike Fest today) been down that way before and told "we don't take Sterling" after a forensic exam of a Clydesdale £20 note, manager being called and ultimately getting the items for free when the manager intervened.
 
You should try this with the multitude of Northern Ireland bank notes...you'd think you were trying to pay in Roubles. :roll:
 
g-train said:
I can't believe that there are people and especially establishments that won't accept legal tender. Do they not know?
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There are no currently issued banknotes that are legal tender in Scotland or Northern Ireland - they are legal currency of course (subtle difference in law), but only Bank of England notes with a face value of less than £5 sterling are the only banknotes that are legal tender in Scotland or Northern Ireland - and they demonetised the last of those in 1984...

Anyway - you'll find plenty of places that refuse to take £50 notes in England - even though they are legal tender - they can get out of it because the way the legal process of a sale proceeds in a shop is that you see the item (an offer to treat), you go to pay for it and the offer is withdrawn (because you want to pay with a £50 note) - so they haven't refused legal tender, nor can you force anyone to sell you something.

In short though there are a lot of retail establishments run by morons who will turn away good money.
 
Hunnymonster, are you an accountant? I ask as my Dad is and explained this to me in a similar way. (ie offer to treat etc)

I have had many issues with Scots/English notes over the years, I spent two weeks in London ten years ago, taking all my spending money with me, in Scotish notes :lol: boy was that interesting. £1 notes are fun too

C
 
Zubar said:
Hunnymonster, are you an accountant? I ask as my Dad is and explained this to me in a similar way. (ie offer to treat etc)
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No, my books add up :lol: - I've been involved in many an argument with retailers in my time... I also have a number of friends in Trading Standards - having a number for them in your mobile often gingers up a non-compliant shopkeeper.
 
Interesting stuff. I did not know about those laws, nor that Scotland still issues one pound notes.

I would still imagine that it would be in ALL shopkeepers' interests to accept British money and know enough about it to realize that they can deposit it in the banks just the same.
 
g-train said:
Interesting stuff. I did not know about those laws, nor that Scotland still issues one pound notes.

I would still imagine that it would be in ALL shopkeepers' interests to accept British money and know enough about it to realize that they can deposit it in the banks just the same.
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Ah, well... in "that England" - if you're a business, you need to bank notes in bundles (£100 of fivers, £500 of tenners and above) - the bundles can't be mixed origin, so if you're a long way from Scotland or a ferry port serving Northern Ireland, it could be a long time before you get your bundle to be able to bank.
 
I don't know if I'm out of step with everyone else on this but I wouldn't care about adopting the Euro - as long as it doesn't diminish my buying power and make everything more expensive relative to wages.
 
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