I went on my first foreign trip across the Channel in late 1967. I seem to remember that the maximum amount one was allowed to take out of the country was £25 and any foreign currency purchased was recorded in the back of the passport. I can't find any reference to this on the internet. Can anyone help? Were exchange controls in force then?
MM
In message , Mike Mitchell writes
The 1947 Exchange Control Act was suspended in the autumn of 1979.
My memory was a limit of £50 but it would likely have been less than that initially.
Its scope was far reaching including the holding of gold and foreign investments and a very peculiar US dollar exchange rate mechanism involving the payment of a 'dollar premium'.
The concept of 'paypal' and 'swift' as we know it today would have been impossible.
We are well rid of it, although it served its purpose in a post war environment.
One of the first acts of Margaret Thatcher. A bit like Brown handing interest rates to B of E as soon as he became Chancellor.
The late seventies were not normally described as post war - though they obviously were. The real reason surely was because of the economic mess we found ourselves in from 1964 to 1979.
I mean £50 FFS!
ISTR a baroque "Cathedral" of rules. Business men making several journeys got a greater allowance.
They attempted to draw a distinction between amounts paid in the UK in Sterling and amounts paid in foreign currency abroad. Every package tour had a defined "V-Form" amount which was recorded in your passport. ISTR this made "Sterling area" destinations more advantageous, though they were usually more expensive.
France tried something similar much later. ISTR my colleague from Paris saying I *had* to pay all his meals etc expenses in the UK or his government wouldn't let him come. :((
DG
John, don't disagree! And I have still kept my copy of the "Bank of England Exchange Control" green manual! So much detail ... Authorised Banks .. Authorised Depositaries ... and lots of "E.C. Notices"
According to Notice EC12 dated 25.01.73, the limit had been raised to a maximum of £25 in Sterling Notes plus up to £300 worth of Foreign Currency ... per trip abroad.
But even those figures did not apply if you were planning to visit Rhodesia!
In message , Malcolm Knight writes
No, a bit like removing any Government or BoE influence on interest rates at all
Bet it dident work though as BACS was single currency.
Eh? It was enacted in 1947! Or do you mean its suspension?
In message , John writes
I remember arguing with my boss who insisted we keep those green ring manuals in case we needed them & i wanted to throw the damned things away! Yes, anything to do with rhodesia was verbotten!
You're not very good at spelling Scottish words, are you, JB?
I didnt know verbotten was Scottish!
National Girobank's version of it wasn't and the two could be worked in tandem.
I kept mine because I thought that it might become an historical document. Indeed, prior to reading this thread yesterday, I probably had not opened it for over 10 years. Incredible amount of detail ... what a controlled life we used to live .... for example, EC8 Supplement no. 41 dated 10.02.77 .... simply concerned takeover bids made by Harrisons Malaysian Estates Limited ..... and confirming that the cash paid out by Harrisons for, for example, Golden Hope Plantations Ltd, was not to be treated as "investment currency".
All this sort of thing confirms without doubt that in the modern world it would be totally impossible to reintroduce exchange control.
In message , Malcolm Knight writes
Not in the days of exchange control.
"john boyle" wrote
Did the Scots take it from the Germans?
It isn't, but then you keep accusing me of being Scottish too.
I am late coming here but the answer is YES; it only ended in 1979 by M Thatcher.
Never mind! Thanks to all. I needed to confirm something I am writing about my ferry trip in 1967 to Ostend, that's all. How so much harder travelling was back then. We waited ages at the border between Belgium and Germany, for instance. It was almost as bad as crossing at Helmstedt into East Germany to get to Berlin in the 1970s.
MM
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