£50 note withdrawal

Or, better, how about offering to pay a £5,000 bill with £1 coins. If the Royal Mint's web page about legal tender is strictly accurate, then £1 coins are legal tender for any amount, but people can *still* refuse to accept them for payment, because legal tender only applies when making payments into court.

And it would only weigh about 1cwt.

They don't. Some shops in England and Wales won't take them.

just preposterous!

Legal tender in Scotland is exactly the same as legal tender everywhere else in the UK. That is, certain notes and coins issued by the Bank of England. Some Scottish banks, for various reasons related to history, tradition and anti-Sassenach snobbery, are permitted to issue their own notes (but not coins). But this is purely a privilege granted to them by the Bank of England, and absolutely nobody at all is obliged to accept these parochial tokens of exchange if they don't want to.

The fact that, in practice, they are universally accepted in Scotland itself and widely accepted elsewhere is simply because most people are familiar enough with them to be confident that they will be honoured if paid into a bank. And the banks themselves (even English ones) accept them as a form of deposit because they, in turn, trust the Scottish banks to honour them when they are returned to Scotland in exchange for real currency. If, at any point, that trust was lost (eg, if any of the note-issuing Scottish banks was to go bust), then Scottish banknotes would rapidly cease being accepted everywhere, from Lands End to John O'Groats.

Mark

Gibraltar and Channel Islands currency is slightly different to Scottish, as in those cases they are legal tender in their respective jurisdictions (and Jersey and Guernsey currencies are both reciprocally accepted as legal tender in both Bailiwicks, along with Bank of England issued currency). Scottish notes aren't legal tender anywhere, even in Scotland.

Other terrritories which issue their own currency denominated in Pounds Sterling include the Isle of Man, Northern Ireland, the Falkland Islands and St Helena. Of those, Northern Irish notes, like those of Scotland, are not legal tender anywhere, even in Northern Ireland, but all the others are legal tender in their respective jurisdictions but not elsewhere.

Mark

They are not legal tender but most people accept them. I have been offerred a lower exchange rate than English notes in a shop in England as well as being refused in hotels, bars and restaurants as I spent a lot of time traveling throughout the UK.

In most cases, after a lot of negotiation, my Scottish notes have been accepted but in one case in a restaurant it got to the point of calling the police. Often I can pay with English notes but sometimes I simply don't want to. I have visited restaurants or filling stations that refuse to accept my corporate Amex despite having no signs saying so Amex is not accepted. In those cases I sometimes deny having other cards or English notes - childish I know but you sometime have to get your fun wherever you can.

Andy

2) Even if they were, that doesn't mean they "they must be taken"

IMHO it's quite reasonable for an English retail outlet to refuse them

I wouldn't know a BoS note from a Bank of Mickey Mouse one, and insisting that all minimum wage numpties are trained to do so is unreasonable IMHO.

tim

Heh got to get your fun somewhere ;) In Yorkshire where we spend a lot of time there has been no problem at all, although I rarely pay with cash any more, I tend to use my (Bank of Scotland) debit card.

There's a difference?

Yes.

they'd get far if they didn't accept it. Say a plumber did work for me in my house, and I paid him in Scottish banknotes, then he refused to accept them and sued me for non-payment. He'd be laughed out of court. Ergo they ARE legal tender.

No, he would lose. Everyone accepts cash, to not do so is absurd. The judge would tell him to take the money or lose out on payment. The judge would not tell me to go down to England and change the money!!!

Because I'm not a silly pedant like you lot.

Because they are worthless. Unless it's cannabis perhaps.

I don't know the code number.

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The only trouble with Hadrian was that he didn't build his wall high enough.

But now we all know whats under your kilt.

Your brains.

So that an innocent person can get done for not checking the note when he received it himself last week.

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It seems that you might be quoting Scots Law.... I don't know.

But on the civilsed side of Hadrian's Wall, innocent people don't "get done".

A shop assistant would have other reasons to take the name (at least) and address (if possible) of the person who tendered the note.

But let's not confuse ignorant with innocent.

No, why would you get into trouble for trying to pay for your shopping with them?

You would have to be observant to notice that coins issued in St Helena are not normal English coins.

Yes. A Mickey Mouse note is useful in Disneyland.

Andy