Are Scottish Notes legal tender in England? Some shops say yes others say no.?

Question

Are Scottish Notes legal tender in England? Some shops say yes others say no.?

Answer 1

yes they are but i have found the same problem so i usually make sure i go to a english cashpoint when i go back there

Answer 2

It is legal tender and everywhere should accept them.

Not sure where to complain to when they dont though!

Answer 3

No! They actually are not legal tender(if I'm understanding correctly), not even in Scotland, thus shops have the right to refuse them as payment. Although most larger retailers will.

Answer 4

Legal tender has a particular meaning.  Banks in England will accept Sterling notes issued by banks in Scotland, Northern Ireland, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man.  However, shops are not obliged to accept anything in particular.  They could quite legally refuse to accept Bank of England £20 notes with pictures of a Scot (Adam Smith) on them.  On the other hand, they can accept Euros, Mongolian Tugriks and Dollar travellers cheques if they feel so inclined.

The reason some shops don't like Scottish notes is that they've got to bank them - they can't give them out as change or wages.

Answer 5

Yes, they are legal, but some shops refuse to take them because there are a lot of fakes around (they have the right to do this)

English forgers target Scottish notes on the grounds that people will be unfamiliar with them and so less likely to spot errors.

Answer 6

They are completely legal, but the further south you get the harder it is to get anyone to accept them.... except in Portsmouth and Plymouth, where there's loads of Scottish lads in the Navy. Years ago I tried spending a Clydesdale Bank tenner in a shop in Oxford Street, only for the assistant to hold the note on suspicion of forgery, call his supervisor AND his manager, one of whom fortunately was a bit brighter than the other two.

There is no justification for this, except what one answer has already stated, that forgers are more likely to put forged Scottish notes into England due to the unfamiliarity of them.

That in itself is not really a good enough reason to not accept them. Scottish notes carry the same watermarks and security details as Bank of England notes and in the case of the latest Bank of Scotland five pound notes, practically impossible to accurately duplicate.

And if unfamiliarity with the notes is a good enough reason to not accept them, I'd suggest there would be an enormous outcry if someone came up from England and tried to spend a Bank of England tenner in Inverness and couldn't because Bank of England notes are not often seen in Scotland.

Would that be seen as a good enough reason, if the boot was on the other foot?

Answer 7

I am prepared for a bit of 'flak' for this, but I have always been led to believe that all banknotes except Bank of England notes, are not strictly legal tender in the UK, but are accepted.

As a general rule you will usually have very little problem with Scottish notes in England north of say, York, but the further south you go the less chance you have of getting shops to accept them.  

Answer 8

yes

Answer 9

I live just across the border, on the English side, and we get our fair share of Scottish notes knocking around this area and we also have problems getting then accepted. The large supermarkets / stores seem to have no problems taking them off you but some of the smaller outlets will point blank refuse to take them off you  and i dont know why. Sometimes taking them to the bank can be our only option.

Answer 10

as Metallic says, its legal tender - but a lot of placaes won't take them!

Answer 11

No, they are not 'legal tender', although the phrase 'legal tender' has a very precise definition.

They are acceptable as payment IF both parties agree.

I live in Scotland, and USUALLY find that shops in England will accept them, because they know that thier bank will also eaccept them. But if a shp refuses, there's nothing I can do. Sorry, that's life!

It's all rather confusing, but the Bank of England website says this:

Are Scottish & Northern Irish notes legal tender?

In short ‘No’ these notes are not legal tender; only Bank of England notes are legal tender but only in England and Wales.

The term legal tender does not in itself govern the acceptability of banknotes in transactions. Whether or not notes have legal tender status, their acceptability as a means of payment is essentially a matter for agreement between the parties involved. Legal tender has a very narrow technical meaning in relation to the settlement of debt. If a debtor pays in legal tender the exact amount he owes under the terms of a contract, he has good defence in law if he is subsequently sued for non-payment of the debt. In ordinary everyday transactions, the term ‘legal tender’ has very little practical application.

Answer 12

Scottish bank notes are not legal tender in Scotland. English bank notes of denomination less than 5UKP were legal tender in Scotland under Currency and Bank Notes Act 1954. Now, with the removal of BoE 1UKP notes, only coins constitute legal tender in Scotland. English bank notes are only legal tender in England, Wales, The Channel Islands and the Isle of Man. In Scotland, 1 pound coins are legal tender to any amount, 20ps and 50ps are legal tender up to 10 pounds; 10p and 5ps to 5 pounds and 2p and 1p coins are legal tender to 20p (separately or in combination). 2 pounds coins and (if you can get hold of one) 5 pound coins are also legal tender to unlimited amounts, as are gold coins of the realm at face value (in Scotland at least).

Northern Irish notes are not legal tender anywhere, a situation similar to Scottish notes. Whether Scottish notes are legal tender or not does not change alter their inherent value but it dictates their legal function. Credit cards, cheques and debit cards are not legal tender either but it doesn't stop them being used as payment. Only a minuscule percentage of Scottish and British trading is carried out using legal tender. Just because something is not legal tender certainly doesn't imply it's illegal to use.