Northern Irish and Scottish banknote acceptance

[GusB]

And when your £100 note is (inevitably) refused, you can offer to pay instead in brand new Royal Bank of Scotland £1 notes.

Are RBS still issuing pound notes? I haven't seen one in circulation for a long time.

Going slightly off-topic, I remember when the new plastic fivers were introduced. I took cash out from the post office before going to the pub one night and they dispensed a few (I think it was Clydesdale Bank that was first off the mark), causing much discussion at the bar. People were selling them on Ebay as "uncirculated" £5 notes, and some were fetching up to £80. I wish I'd seized the moment when I had the chance!

 

[hooverboy]

It really is a load of nonsense. The first time I ever encountered an Irish note I called my supervisor over to take a look, and she advised me to accept it because it had the words "pound" and "sterling" printed on it. Living in Scotland, I'm obviously accustomed to handling Scottish banknotes, but up until that point I'd never encountered Bank of Ireland or Ulster Bank notes.

It would be a lot simpler if companies like yours recognised the fact that other parts of the UK (and other bits of the "Sterlingzone" that aren't part of the UK) issue their own banknotes that are acceptable as currency and gave the appropriate training.

which in iteslf is rather bizarre because bank of england notes no longer contain the word "sterling".

 

[Macwomble]

And when your £100 note is (inevitably) refused, you can offer to pay instead in brand new Royal Bank of Scotland £1 notes.

Haven't seen a RBS £1 note in years.......always got card backup when the (inevitable) refusal comes along. TBH I do it to do some "winding up" as much as anything.

On another tack......anyone else remember the "bad" old days when those in England who grudgingly took Scottish £1 notes but would then charge a "commission" for taking them? (19/6d for a Scottish pound was a common one)

 

[AlterEgo]

The concept of legal tender doesn’t exist in Scots Law so that point is moot.

Coinage Act 1971 isn’t Scots Law but applies to Scotland.

 

[Puffing Devil]

Very useful information from the Bank of England, who should know about legal tender and acceptance. (https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/knowledgebank/what-is-legal-tender)

What is classed as legal tender varies throughout the UK. In England and Wales, legal tender is Royal Mint coins and Bank of England notes. In Scotland and Northern Ireland only Royal Mint coins are legal tender. Throughout the UK, there are some restrictions when using the lower value coins as legal tender. For example, 1p and 2p coins only count as legal tender for any amount up to 20p.​

The bottom line is that if a trader does not want to take your money, they don't have to. If they only want to take cards (or unicorn droppings) that's their choice, subject to the usual caveats of discrimination. That means that can refuse your notes and lose the sale. Their choice. For a small business, a dodgy £50 note could wipe out a lot of profit. I can also see that any business would be wary of accepting any sterling note not from their own country - the potential for fakery is huge.

The railway has rules in place about what the TOCs need to accept, which means that they must take cash. They are usually pragmatic about the notes they accept, though there is no requirement for an English office to accept a Scottish or NI note.