The "Credit Crunch", and it's effects for everyone...

[Tom B]

When I was in London in 2003 I noticed there few a lot of places, mostly small stores, shops etc that had little signs in the windows saying that they don't accept £50 notes.

Are they aloud to do that, given that the notes are legal tender can a shop really refuse a customer if they produce a £50 note?

Yep. What is and isn't legal tender has absolutely zero relevance to most of us.. "Legal tender" only applies when you are considering a court order to repay a debt - it defines the things which, in such a case, you could not refuse as payment of that debt.

This is why companies can put up signs saying they don't take £50/£100, don't take Scottish cash etc.

So, whilst if I went with an English £50 to pay for a sausage roll at an English branch of Greggs, they would be within their rights to refuse it. However, if I was ordered to pay a debt to them by a court, they couldn't refuse it.

In Scotland, the only legal tender are coins, plus Bank of England notes lower than £5 - which makes the definition pretty useless anyway, since BofE doesn't print anything lower than £5 anymore.

 

[Broken Viking]

Stagecoach Credit notes are OK when you get £1 more from them that you should have...

Having a Rushmoor B.C "Freedom" pass, I've never been issued with such a credit note myself...Is that £1 extra standard practice (As compensation for not having the cash) or was that awarded to ye in error?

In Scotland, the only legal tender are coins, plus Bank of England notes lower than £5 - which makes the definition pretty useless anyway, since BofE doesn't print anything lower than £5 anymore.

Hmm...Maybe it's about time that the Scots considered a rules update? 8)

On the other hand though...If I was running a business, I'd be more than happy to accept genuine Scottish notes of any value under £50,- and Euro notes below €100,-...It's the BofE notes above £5,- that I'd be scrutinising in detail, as they're drawn upon a bank that I do not personally trust.

 

[mbonwick]

Was totally erroneous, I should have had £5.50 change but I got a credit note for £6.50 meaning that not only did it pay my full fare on Friday (we only get 4 day tickets round here)but I also had £1 change to spend in halfpriceorless.com, which bought a king size pack of Maryland Double Choc Chip Cookies (RRP 99p) for 29p and a 500ml bottle of Lucozade for 69p

 

[Tom B]

Hmm...Maybe it's about time that the Scots considered a rules update? 8)

As said, the definition of legal tender is pretty abstract anyway - very few of us are ever going to have to use it.

On the other hand though...If I was running a business, I'd be more than happy to accept genuine Scottish notes of any value under £50,- and Euro notes below €100,-...It's the BofE notes above £5,- that I'd be scrutinising in detail, as they're drawn upon a bank that I do not personally trust.

Scottish banknotes are covered by funds lodged at the BofE for 3/7 days of the week. I believe that BofE notes are forged (%age wise) more than others but don't have any figures to hand. The £20 being the most popular (£50, 100 being scrutinised in such detail by shopkeepers that forgeries rarely get anywhere).

Was totally erroneous, I should have had £5.50 change but I got a credit note for £6.50 meaning that not only did it pay my full fare on Friday (we only get 4 day tickets round here)but I also had £1 change to spend in halfpriceorless.com, which bought a king size pack of Maryland Double Choc Chip Cookies (RRP 99p) for 29p and a 500ml bottle of Lucozade for 69p

I suspect very much that the extra £1 will come out of the drivers pocket. Although to be fair he ought to have checked...

 

[Guinness]

Coke went up from 55p to 60p today. :mad:

 

[Tom B]

A vending machine in the lobby of Tescos in Doncaster sold it at 32p up until last year - it seems whoever updates the prices on them hadn't done so in several years! When the lobby was tarted up, it was removed, and coke now sells for about 60p at the kiosk .

 

[mbonwick]

I suspect very much that the extra £1 will come out of the drivers pocket. Although to be fair he ought to have checked...

How are Stagecoach going to know? All the credit note says is who issued it, what time, what bus and route ID and how much for. They've no way of knowing what ticket I asked for, nor how much I put down.

 

[Broken Viking]

How are Stagecoach going to know? All the credit note says is who issued it, what time, what bus and route ID and how much for. They've no way of knowing what ticket I asked for, nor how much I put down.

Actually, I believe that the credit note system ties itself in with the last ticket issued (By printing the ticket number on the credit note, maybe?) and it might be a condition that ye have to present thy ticket alongside the credit note to validate it. :?

Also, the modules in Wayfarer ticket machines - Aside from being used for storing route and fare info, and identifying drivers to the system - Also act as an electronic journal roll that stores details of all tickets and credit notes issued, passes accepted, routes served and float values etc.

At the end of the shift - At least at Aldershot yard - A driver will insert their module into a large DeLaRue counting machine before inserting banknotes and emptying the contents of their change tray into the top of it.
The machine counts up the total value of the change plus the banknotes that the driver has inserted, stores the cash inside a built-in safe, and submits the total value inserted along with a download of data from the module to the depots server...Which will immediately calculate whether or not a driver has a till variance, and how over/under it is. hock:

Presumably, till variances are automatically added or deducted against the drivers next pay to save all the pfaffing about with pocket change from being 12p under each day.

Coke went up from 55p to 60p today. :mad:

It's not all doom and gloom though...One of my local branches of Co-Operative Food are selling 1.25l bottles of Coca-Cola for about 59p each - And that offer runs until the 20th or the 25th January, IIRC! 8)

 

[Aussie_Rail]

What about cars? Are people still buying cars, imparticular to second hand cars? If people are not then such dealers would either be getting rid of stock at ultra cheap prices or closing down.

Some small car dealers that I know of have closed but the big majority of them are still trading.

I also heard that there was somewhere in the UK that a car dealer was selling cars at 'buy one get one free', is that true and if so just how are they doing it?


AR

 

[Metroland]

Guests and staff at a hotel on Tyneside were given 20 minutes to leave after it was closed down.

Some guests at the Springfield Hotel in Gateshead were even escorted to their rooms on Monday morning by security staff who watched them pack.

Thirty hotel workers were also told they had lost their jobs as operator Legacy Hotels ceased to be in charge from midnight on Sunday.

Legacy Hotels said the hotel went into receivership on 8 October.

The company said it had now handed over management of the hotel to GVA Grimley, acting on behalf of Lloyds TSB Bank.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/tyne/7824961.stm

 

[Aussie_Rail]

Gee, thats terrible, imagine having to suddenly pack and have security guards watch over you, I would hate to have gone out for the day and come back to find all your belongings sitting on the foot path.


AR

 

[Tom B]

How are Stagecoach going to know? All the credit note says is who issued it, what time, what bus and route ID and how much for. They've no way of knowing what ticket I asked for, nor how much I put down.

It will be recorded on the wayfarer as a normal ticket - i.e. the value of your credit note. So if the driver gave you a note for more than you paid, he will be down at the end of his shift.

I believe drivers have to cash in the amount the module says, obviously keeping change in their tray for the next day. So if they have lost money they simply lost part of their float.

 

[yorkie]

Yep. What is and isn't legal tender has absolutely zero relevance to most of us.. "Legal tender" only applies when you are considering a court order to repay a debt - it defines the things which, in such a case, you could not refuse as payment of that debt.

I think it applies to any debt, not just a court order.

So if you eat a meal in a restaurant and are then in debt to the restaurant they can't refuse legal tender.

But in most shops you pay first, so as you rightly say they can refuse legal tender.