If you live in England and work somewhere that takes cash, do you accept Scottish and Northern Irish notes? If no, why not?
Posted by 87catmama@reddit | AskUK | View on Reddit | 394 comments
I used to live in England and would always take scottish notes because, well, £20 is £20. My boss would always get funny with me when I did. In fact, sometimes I'd be given that note in my wages as a 'punishment' I guess 😂. Now I live in Scotland nobody bats an eyelid at English notes.
I hate when you try to pay with a Scottish note in England and they look at you like you're some kind of forgery expert and call all their colleagues over for advice.
Horrorwriterme@reddit
I’ve had this argument all the time. My sister in law lives in Glasgow. When we visit we always end up with one it too Scottish notes. The amount of times I was told that not British currency. Now I just put them in my bank, it saves any hassle.
jasilucy@reddit
Never bothered me when I was handed one when I worked at Tesco express. They always started to argue before I even said that’s fine. If it says sterling then that’s good enough for me.
I always put them at the back of the till and ensured I got rid of everyone in the till float lifts. Never any issues.
metropolis22786@reddit
The real fun comes from being handed winner's packets of £100 notes from a Scottish casino and having a trainee cashier give me such a look of confusion on what to do with them.
"That's... Uh... Are they real?"
Yep.
"What do we do?"
If she wins, give them back to her. If she loses, send them to the bank. Easy.
Smooth_Leadership895@reddit
Used to work in Waitrose and I used to see them occasionally. Our policy was that we’d accept them but I would always check them like a £50 note. There’s 3 banks in Scotland that produce bank notes and they are: Clydesdale Bank, Bank of Scotland and Royal Bank of Scotland. Clydesdale bank notes have the bridges and people on it. Bank of Scotland was the really colourful notes with historical figures and the RBS I have never seen before. The bank of Scotland notes did produce a £100 note which is ultra rare. In the Waitrose I worked in it was always either Scottish people or shady people. There was something on the news a few years ago about Scottish notes being used more in drug trafficking due to the fact that they have less security than a standard BoE note. All 3 bank notes have completely security features and they can be more difficult to spot counterfeit notes. The policy before I left was only £5, £10, £20 notes were accepted and for a certain period, we couldn’t accept some by the Bank of Scotland due to counterfeiting (this was during Covid lockdown).
I do really like unique bank notes from different regions. We are the only country that allows this.
AmyLuna@reddit
I genuinely don't know whether the shop I work in takes them or not. They've never said either way (or I've just missed it if they have). It's rare I've ever been given one at the till, but I've always just accepted it and just put it in a separate section of the till to the other notes just in case. I'm in the south-east, and I don't think I've ever come across a note from Northern Ireland, but I've seen a couple of Scottish ones. I work for a big company, so even if they don't actually accept them, they make so much money that I doubt it'll affect them if I accept the odd note every few months/years.
Low-Cauliflower-5686@reddit
Hardly used cash these days but used Scottish notes in the past in England with varying degrees of confusion. I tend to find if the person in the shop or restaurant is not from the UK originally, they aren't aware that Scotland has it's own notes.
cgknight1@reddit
Disappointed - ten comments and not a single misunderstanding of legal tender yet.
docju@reddit
It was eye-opening to learn that Scottish banknotes are not even legal tender in Scotland.
fruitbaticus@reddit
Not even english notes are legal tender in Scotland. Only coins.
TopAngle7630@reddit
Scottish law doesn't have a concept of legal tender. Nothing is legal tender in Scotland.
docju@reddit
According to the Bank of England website, coins are legal tender in Scotland.
blue_tack@reddit
The bank of England was founded by a Scotsman. I think we would know how money works thank you very much.
evilcockney@reddit
Serious question, do the Bank of England have any say over Scotland? If so, why?
ReySpacefighter@reddit
In the early 18th century there were these acts of union that joined the crowns of England and Scotland (a long running project since James I (VI of Scotland) the first of the Stuart monarchs of England that was finally implemented by his descendant and last Stuart monarch Queen Anne). Scotland had a disastrous attempt at colonialism in Panama and asked England to bail them out (with quite a bit of behind-the-scenes English manipulation and strong-arming). The Bank of England having been founded in 1694 then became the bank of the UK as a whole, but the name didn't change.
docju@reddit
Well the reason I quoted the BoE website was because it was merely telling us what the laws surrounding legal tender are, it did not create them (but it would still be a good authority to find the truth).
I don't know enough to answer your question though, so I'll point you to the Bank of England Wikipedia page. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bank_of_England
MerlinOfRed@reddit
It's the reserve bank of the UK. The name 'England' is misleading. It's better to think about it being about the location the bank is (it could easily be called the Bank of London).
In reality they just didn't want to change the name after the union was formed.
As for being the authority on legal tender - they are not. Neither is the Royal Mint. That's the UK Government alone and the details come from the Currency and Bank Notes Act 1954.
docju@reddit
Great! What I meant about them being an authority was that they would know their stuff rather than them setting the rules.
Party-Newt@reddit
A shame they had to do away with the other form of legal tender, the glass bottle
fruitbaticus@reddit
This disagrees: https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/explainers/what-is-legal-tender
rednets@reddit
Over the years I have found it tends to irritate Scottish people when you tell them that
p1971@reddit
To irritate a Scotch person even more you can tell them that technically a Scottish pound is worth less than a Bank of England pound ... the Scotch banks print the notes, then hand over some bonds (in BoE pounds) to the BoE - there's a bit of a lag - so at any one time there are more Scottish notes in circulation than they have bonds - there is a ratio published somewhere which is effectively an exchange rate.
(this might be a fever dream, can't remember!)
docju@reddit
It’s a great way to get downvotes in the Scottish subreddits.
glasgowgeg@reddit
Is it? Last few times I've seen folk harp on about legal tender in the Scotland subreddit when it doesn't apply, they've been massively downvoted and had several people correct them.
docju@reddit
I speak from my own experience but maybe I just was unlucky (this was a while ago mind)
rednets@reddit
Well if anything it's encouraged me to spread this knowledge to Scottish people as often as I possibly can
Jonah_the_Whale@reddit
As often and, hopefully, as loudly as you possibly can.
Maleficent_Resolve44@reddit
I just found out wow. Even English banknotes aren't legal tender in Scotland. Can't be forced I guess.
90210fred@reddit
Can I up your legal tender to include offer for sale Vs invitation to treat??
ffordeffanatic@reddit
Legal tender is when my solicitor sings Elvis, obviously.
kahnindustries@reddit
IIITS LEEEEEGAL TENDEEEER!
BocaSeniorsWsM@reddit
So the notes have to be older than 16?
ehsteve23@reddit
*Michael McIntyre voice:*
Dapper-Lab-9285@reddit
In the vast majority of cases legal tender is irrelevant, unless there is a debt there is no legal tender.
Douglas______@reddit
Woosh
WebDevWarrior@reddit
We have a lot of monopoly players here on Reddit.
They know their blue notes from their red ones.
starsandbribes@reddit
In Scotland we taught 16 year old till workers to accept Northern Irish notes, so I don’t see any reason its such a struggle down south.
Albert_Herring@reddit
My guess would be that the only thing that makes it a struggle is that most of us haven't seen one in a couple of decades. I assume they'll show up quite a bit more often in Glasgow (and the southwest?) just from people coming over for Celtic and Rangers games and from other cultural links.
Low-Cauliflower-5686@reddit
Yes , I remember seeing Northern Irish notes every month or so in Scotland.
QueenConcept@reddit
In fairness I worked pubs for almost a decade and can probably count the number of Scottish notes I've ever seen on one hand and have fingers to spare.
Western-Ad-9058@reddit
I live in the Republic of Ireland just over the border. I worked as a young person in the north when the exchange rates worked in my favour. I went over on a holiday to visit family bringing plenty of (northern Irish) cash. And was turned away in almost every shop and food tender. Their reasoning was it says bank of Ireland so it must be Irish money… at 16 years old I began getting more and more wound up because I was showing them where it said pound sterling and trying to explain to grown people the UK is the only place that uses pounds sterling. Ireland uses the euro. I will forever remember this as the most frustrating holiday of my life 😂
Low-Cauliflower-5686@reddit
Didn't it used to be the Irish punt or something? With Irish £ and p
Fractalien@reddit
To be fair it is all about familiarity. If you don't see them often and you are in a junior position where you might get in trouble for doing the wrong thing (maybe even fear it will be docked out of your wages) then the reaction is hardly surprising.
In Scotland BoE notes are a lot more common (certainly compared to most of England)
highlandcow75@reddit
I used to work in a shop and a Scottish woman gave me a Scottish £100 note. So not only was I dealing with unfamiliar Scottish notes I was also dealing with a bloody £100 note I'd never seen an English version of before.
Low-Cauliflower-5686@reddit
I remember people trying to use £1 Scottish notes too and person was like wtf
DrunkenPangolin@reddit
Scottish friend of mine came back from Asda when we were at college and he was absolutely fuming. Apparently they hadn't accepted his £100 note. Struggled to get him to listen through him telling me it was the same as our £100 note. He was utterly baffled when he finally clicked that we don't have one, I also pointed out that it isn't legal tender in England though most places would probably take Scottish notes, he'd have a hard time with £100
Reetgeist@reddit
A lot of places won't take English £50 notes, let alone a £100 note that they've never seen before and have no idea how to check.
Willing-Cell-1613@reddit
I’ve never even seen a £50 in real life.
feetflatontheground@reddit
And they're probably 3 different varieties of them too.
BenjiTheSausage@reddit
When I worked as a driving instructor I'd often get some of the wealthier clients paying in £50 notes, after a couple of tries I stopped trying to spend them and just banked them instead
paulmclaughlin@reddit
£100?
How about a Titan
Figueroa_Chill@reddit
TBH you would struggle to spend £100 pound note anywhere, some shops don't even accept £50 pound notes.
MattyFTM@reddit
Legal tender is meaningless in a shop anyway. All it means is that it must be accepted by financial institutions when settling a debt. Shops are free to accept or refuse any currency they please.
lodav22@reddit
When I worked in a bank our code for “we’re being robbed” was to ask another cashier or someone working on the side bench for a £100 note. One day a little old lady came in to ask about a £100 note for a gift for her granddaughter and my very dense colleague shouted over to the manager who was on the side bench at the time “Do we have any £100 notes?”. We were all looking around alarmed and all we could see was this sweet little lady behind the desk!
Different-Estate747@reddit
That seems like a terrible code for "we're being robbed", especially if you're working in a bank of all places.
lodav22@reddit
We never carried £100 notes in our branch. We all knew that and that’s why the phrase was used.
Grouchy-Nobody3398@reddit
Sounds like my dad's place of work in the early 90's, the security contractors had trained their dogs to attack if they heard the very rarely used word "Camalot" ...
marmaladesardine@reddit
When I started working in an insurance branch in a rough area it was all still manual paper files with each client's name on the front. WTC written on the file in black marker was code for Watch this Client. If WTC was written in red marker it meant that they had previously been fraudulent, violent or known to carry a weapon. We also had emergency codes - "Mr Brown is holding on the back office phone" meant that the branch was on fire.
MattyFTM@reddit
There is no English version of a £100 note. £50 is the highest.
Lonely-Job484@reddit
She hasn't got three knockers, that's Bobby Charlton in the middle
Western_Bell4032@reddit
That is a twen-ty niiiiine pound note!
bazpoint@reddit
I was once with a friend in Currys buying (iirc) a set of headphones (wired - this was a couple of decades ago!). He had just been paid for some cash work with, amongst other notes, a Scottish £20. Which was red.
The headphones were, lets say, £15... he paid with the Scottish £20, and the checkout person, presumably just seeing the red note and getting bamboozled into thinking it was a £50, gave him £35 change.
The friend was always a bit slow on the uptake & didn't quite register what had happened until we got outside. He asked if we should go back in and straighten it out..... I said "nahh, probably not". We left. Felt a bit bad in hindsight that the staff member may've got in trouble for it, but we were young, & it was Currys.... so.... sod it.
Anyway, moral of the story is that this is why junior staff in regions where other nations' notes are rare are probably told to just flat out not accept them... otherwise mistakes will happen!
glasgowgeg@reddit
Scottish £20 notes have never been red. The £50 is red, but the £20s are purple, or a pink for the Tercentenary release in 1995.
bazpoint@reddit
Ah yeah, would've been the pink one then, that lines up with dates, I think it was probably 2000/2001
bonkerz1888@reddit
It's ignorance 101.
Isn't just junior employees who do this, I've been refused with Scottish notes by every part of the spectrum. I don't even try and explain myself anymore as it almost always falls on deaf ears.
It's the Irish I feel sorry for, their notes are all different colours and sizes compared to ours and the BoEs. They probably look even more "foreign" to English people than Euros.
soulsteela@reddit
It’s arse covering, no clue what any of these notes look or feel like, meaning someone can pass iffy notes , literally why we were told not to accept anything except normal English currency. There was a spate of fakes when loads of contractors were here years ago n it’s the way it is now.
bonkerz1888@reddit
The detector pens cost a few quid and take seconds to mark a note to check it's legitimacy 😂
Could you imagine how much greeting we'd hear from south of the border if we stopped accepting English notes as we are well within our right to do, as is the practice in England?
glasgowgeg@reddit
The shops will have them anyway to check English notes, which is why their excuse for lack of familiarity with the notes is daft.
bonkerz1888@reddit
Aye as I keep saying it all boils down to ignorance.
glasgowgeg@reddit
When I worked in Tesco, we'd occasionally get Danske Bank notes from Northern Ireland, we didn't get them often enough to immediately recognise them, but we had note scanners and pens to check them with, as long as they didn't flag as forgeries, they were fine to accept.
bonkerz1888@reddit
Aye I'm in the Scottish Highlands and worked on an active military base about 20 years ago when the Royal Irish were stationed there. First couple of times I was like "WTF is this?" before having a read of the note and realising it was kosher.
I could understand those notes throwing anyone on mainland Britain off given the different colours and (back then anyway) quite different design, but 10 seconds reading the note tells you it's legit as do all the watermarks etc.
soulsteela@reddit
I should imagine the U.K. government would withhold all funding which is paid in English Stirling until that policy was changed.
bonkerz1888@reddit
It's been the law here already for centuries, we just don't enforce it like fannies.
England should take heed 😉
DarkNinjaPenguin@reddit
At the end of the day, if a cashier isn't familiar with the note they can't even begin to tell whether it's real or not. They are absolutely within their rights to refuse them. Use card if it's such a problem, or exchange your notes at a bank.
I've had Scottish notes accepted at big and small shops, and also refused at both. It's worth knowing that the self-checkout machines at most big supermarkets will take them.
bonkerz1888@reddit
Could you imagine the greeting from south of the border if businesses north of the border rightly refused to accept English banknotes 😂
It's not always possible to exchange a Scottish note when you're en route to your English destination, are caught short and need a quick bite to eat with only cash in hand. It's less of an occurrence these days but does still happen.
Been caught out heaps of times forgetting I have a Scottish tenner on me and I quickly need to pay for something but can't because someone doesn't like the look of my note. Just a nuisance and also loss of custom for the ignorant eejit.
You'd think nobody has access to Google these days.
DarkNinjaPenguin@reddit
Plenty of businesses do reject banknotes, and take card only.
glasgowgeg@reddit
Not really the same thing though, the proper analogous situation would be someone attempting to pay in English notes at a shop in Scotland and the cashier saying "No English notes, only Scottish notes".
bonkerz1888@reddit
Aye but they don't discriminate between which bank otes to reject.
I know companies each side of the border are well within their rights to reject notes, or even accept Pokémon cards as payment if they wish.. we're not really discussing the strict legal definition and more the fact one side of the border act like cunts and won't listen to reason the instant they see "foreign" notes.
DarkNinjaPenguin@reddit
They aren't acting like cunts or even rejecting reason. As I've said, plenty of places do accept Scottish notes, it just comes down to familiarity and there's no law saying they have to train every staff member how to recognise every type of note. It doesn't really help that there's more than one kind of Scottish note as well.
bonkerz1888@reddit
Aye which takes me back to my initial comment, it all stems from ignorance.
terryjuicelawson@reddit
Danske bank even issue notes in Northern Ireland so I can certainly see people's apprehension about taking those. It is justified ignorance I would say, as you can literally never see them in the wild. I have been given one Bank of Scotland fiver. Looked OK to me but what if it was (probably not a forgery) but an outdated design, one that would be a faff to get changed up somewhere. Should people keep totally up to date with all the notes that can possibly get issued in the UK on the offchance they may get one? Really people who have them need to accept they are a hassle and change them at the first opportunity.
bonkerz1888@reddit
I don't keep up to date with English notes and barely see them yet I'm capable of looking at them and seeing if they have security markers on them.
It's not rocket science. As I say it's just ignorance from people in England. It's the same in Scotland when Irish notes are refused. If people were taught as kids that other notes exist and are acceptable as payment, then we wouldn't have this issue at all.
terryjuicelawson@reddit
You don't realise that people may literally never get one, ever. And no one wants it in their change. If they have a choice, they just don't want the hassle.
bonkerz1888@reddit
Thanks for confirming for me that it's their choice to be a prick and nothing to do with "legal tender" as the excuse almost always goes when I find my tenner being rejected.
omniwrench-@reddit
Bank of England notes are more common in Scotland than England?
Did you mean Clydesdale Bank notes are more common in Scotland?
photoOomph@reddit
I think they meant that English notes are more common in Scotland than Scottish notes are in England
omniwrench-@reddit
That makes more sense.
The bit in brackets is pretty confusing if that’s what they meant, as it reads “in Scotland, Bank of England notes are a lot more common….compared to most of England”
QueenConcept@reddit
Mostly yes. If you're trying to pay for a £1.80 drink with a Scottish £50 I'm gonna tell you to jog on though (true story).
RegularWhiteShark@reddit
I worked in McDonald’s over ten years ago and took a Scottish note no problem. We don’t really see them here (north Wales).
Off topic, I had a Scottish £10 note back in the day that I wanted to keep because it was cool but my dad stole it to buy vodkat (yes, not even actual vodka).
Powerful_Ad_9452@reddit
I’m English - lived in Glasgow for a year - tried to use Glasgow tenners with the taxis in my Yorkshire hometown - one time the driver asked what it was and when I told him it was a Scottish tenner he was fine with it, another time a different driver refused to take it. I don’t know why. It’s really stupid.
whisperinglondon@reddit
One accepted a decent amount like £200 in Scottish notes .The manager believed they were fake after the matter. Was investigated and they were real but I always asked a coworker to deal with Scottish notes after that as I was terrified
BigMarth24@reddit
At mcdonalds we were allowed to take Scottish notes but a manager had to check them before we could take them. There's often quite a lot of fake Scottish notes that go around. I have never been given a Northern Irish note so don't know the policy on that
f8rter@reddit
People are unfamiliar with them and are worried about counterfeits
And the only people taking significant amounts of cash are outlets involved in money laundering
And who the fcuk uses cash these days as Emma Harper said, nobody uses currency any more they use cards 😂
flourarranger@reddit
But we should keep using cash, it's a vital part of society. Plus Scottish and Northern Irish notes are legal tender, so they are the currency of the UK!
Pebbi@reddit
What makes it a vital part of society? Just curious because I've not used cash for about 15 years at this point so I don't have the perspective.
flourarranger@reddit
You've not used any cash at all for 15 years? That's quite a feat.
"Access to cash, and importantly, the ability to use and widespread acceptance of cash, are fundamental to a free society, social inclusion, confidentiality, and the stability of the ( )economy. The physical presence of cash ensures the availability of a reliable method of payment for goods and services when technical issues impact digital alternatives." Addleshaw Goddard Sept 2024
Keep using cash unless you actually want those gajillionaire scumbags to own every last thing.
f8rter@reddit
If cash was best (money launderers aside) we’d be using it
Scottish and NI notes are just re badged sterling but any vendor is entitled to specify how he wished to be paid or not
Many shops won’t accept £50 “English” notes because of the counterfeit risk
No_Pineapple9166@reddit
I am a frequent visitor to the Channel Islands and when cash was more of a thing I can confirm it was very much a one-way street between them and us.
-FangMcFrost-@reddit
I'll always remember when I was a kid and I went to England for the first time with my mum (who was also visiting England for the first time) and we were in a Post Office and I wanted a Simpsons comic to read for the long journey home.
My mum handed over a Scottish note and the woman behind the till looked at it like she had just saw someone shitting in her cereal. It was quite a face that she pulled and still to this day, I've never seen anyone pull a face like it but anyway, she refused to accept the money which annoyed my mum.
DuckPicMaster@reddit
Scottish notes are the bomb. They’ve fishes, otters, and squirrels. Irish notes are cool too. They’ve habiscus flowers.
However, the Scottish notes with the bridge and that boring man and the Irish ones that are green and say Danske Bank are shit.
A very loose guide I heard is: north of Manchester: Scottish/Irish notes fine. South of Manchester: difficulties.
No_Pineapple9166@reddit
I spent a Scottish tenner in Waitrose in south west London. I mean, they had to get some senior staff involved first but it was all done with warmth and good humour. Nice one Wimbledon Waitrose 👍
Western_Bell4032@reddit
"That boring man" - Rabbie Burns?
DuckPicMaster@reddit
No idea but irrelevant of who it is they’re more boring than squirrels.
Western_Bell4032@reddit
You could read their works?
Burns is the national poet.
Sir Walter Scott wrote a load of novels.
They're not squirrels but they're not boring.
Willing-Cell-1613@reddit
To be fair, both Burns and squirrels can be not boring and Burns can be more boring than a squirrel, at the same time.
Neither-Novel-5643@reddit
He had rabies?.
GaryJM@reddit
If he means a note that has both "the bridge and that boring man" on it then he must mean either Sir Walter Scott (who is on all the Bank of Scotland notes, which all have bridges on the reverse) or Sir William Arrol, who is on the Clydesdale £5 with his creation, the Forth Bridge. Scott certainly did not lead a boring life so I guess he means Arrol.
Western_Bell4032@reddit
You think they know anything about Scott? I doubt it.
salutdamour@reddit
Northern Irish* the currency of Ireland is the euro
Powerful_Housing7035@reddit
Northern Irish isn't a nationality
dopamiend86@reddit
How is Northern Irish not a nationality?
I'm not English, Scottish, Welsh and I don't identify as irish
I've a British passport, I was born and live within the uk. So what am I if Northern Irish isn't a nationality?
Wind-and-Waystones@reddit
Would Ulster Scot technically be the nationality name for a non-irish northern Ireland nationality? Or would that be too loaded/incorrect?
Powerful_Housing7035@reddit
IMO that would make sense as it has a long history behind it. 'Northern Irish' is a term used to take away Irish culture from those in the north, its extremely partitionist thinking.
dopamiend86@reddit
You're right there, I live in a different country from an Irish person living in Dublin. I'm Northern Irish.
Iforgotmypassword126@reddit
I’ve got no skin in the game what you call yourself is up to you, I’m just trying to think of comparable examples.
I think the answer is you’re both so can use whatever you want.
For example, I have friends from South Korea and they say they’re Korean and when asked (yes sometimes people actually ask) they say “I’m from South Korea”. Or “I’m South Korean” they’re both South Korean in nationality and Korean is maybe more how they’d describe their ethnicity.
On the flip side I only know people who say they’re South African if asked and not African (they are African too of course) but I think that’s because it’s a continent not just a partitioned country so different situation.
salutdamour@reddit
If what I call myself is up to me, why are you saying I - a northern Irish person - cannot be northern Irish? It is a nationality, it does exist for those who want to identify as much
Iforgotmypassword126@reddit
Not sure where I said that.
salutdamour@reddit
You said it’s not a nationality, and it is, like English, Scottish and Welsh
Iforgotmypassword126@reddit
Can you please point out where I said that and I’ll correct it.
dopamiend86@reddit
I'm sure if you said to someone from Seoul that Korean soldiers were fighting in Ukraine, they'd be quick to correct you that it's north Korean troops in Ukraine.
I'm not Irish, I don't relate to any Irish culture what so ever. Yes I'm ulster Scots but that's my heritage not my nationality.
Northern Irish is as much a nationality as English or Scots. We have our own national team, our own devolved government. Saying that being Northern Irish doesn't exist is an Irish Republican viewpoint to argue that the country is illegitimate.
belfast-woman-31@reddit
Exactly. I feel less Irish than most Americans. I also don’t feel British because of people like Iforgotmypassword. I am simply Northern Irish. It is a nationality and it is my nationality.
People saying it’s made up is like saying Ukraine is still Russian.
Iforgotmypassword126@reddit
That’s not the situation I described
You can call yourself whatever you want
Never said that so not sure what you’re on about mate
dopamiend86@reddit
Sorry mixed you up with someone else who replied.
Iforgotmypassword126@reddit
No probs
Powerful_Housing7035@reddit
Born on the island of Ireland? I'll let you work it out. And yes you can be a British citizen and also Irish. 'Northern Irish' is a term made up about 30 years ago, meaningless.
belfast-woman-31@reddit
That’s like me saying Gibraltar is Spanish because on it’s attached to Spain.
Different-Estate747@reddit
Geez, that must be a long chain.
belfast-woman-31@reddit
And your response makes no sense??
Gerry-Mandarin@reddit
Irish is actually correct.
The banknotes of Northern Ireland are primarily issued by the Bank of Ireland. They have retained the ability to print banknotes, which they have had since before independence.
The same is true of Ulster Bank, who only ceased operating in Ireland in the last couple years and are verging on collapse in Northern Ireland too.
salutdamour@reddit
Well no because it’s the currency of Northern Ireland, not the currency of Ireland. There are other banks than BoI that issue NI bank notes, like Danske
Gerry-Mandarin@reddit
Pound Sterling currency of the United Kingdom. Like I said, it's a "well, ackshually" answer, and I only said it because the trivia is fun. Of course they're Northern Irish. Except for a silly loophole.
Northern Bank (read: Danske, who acquired them, and their charter) is also an Irish bank that issued Irish banknotes prior to independence, historically one of the "Big Four" of Ireland.
This charter has been in operation continuously since the 19th Century. Nothing has been granted to a bank post-partition (to my knowledge, I know a lot of banks have gone bust).
They're issued for Northern Ireland, but technically not by Northern Ireland. They're Irish banks (charters), issuing British bank notes, for use in Northern Ireland.
DoireBeoir@reddit
It's the currency of the UK not northern Ireland.
Irish notes are UK currency, just like Scottish and English notes. Only the visuals are different
Calling them "northern Irish" is unnecessary and reels of "our wee country" types
DoireBeoir@reddit
What a pointless distinction
salutdamour@reddit
Don’t think you’d say that if I argued the currency of Ireland was the GBP
DoireBeoir@reddit
That wouldn't be an argument, you would just be wrong
Different-Estate747@reddit
Bring back the Punt!
I loved those big thin coins. Had a nice deer design on them
salutdamour@reddit
I liked the coin with the horse on it
drempire@reddit
I got one of each of the new Scottish notes, framed them. Apparently one was worth alot of money but I didn't check, I just love the Scottish notes. Some cunt stole them all
JugglinB@reddit
One of them was probably worth £100! I'm sorry for your loss
JugglinB@reddit
And in Manchester? Or is that just a Scottish note Black Hole?
Efficient_Joke_832@reddit
Long time ago, but no, I wouldn't accept them. Basically because I wasn't familiar enough to reliably identify a forgery, and wasn't willing to risk it becoming my problem. A very occasional annoyed customer versus the possibility of 16 year old me in a minimum wage part time job having to pay back£20, absolutely no contest. Also the "legal tender" argument is nonsense.
BigSillyDaisy@reddit
Bracing myself for the phrase "LEGAL TENDER" to be bellowed about.
Delicious-Pin3996@reddit
Right above you. Lol.
bps706@reddit
Nah, to be fair this commenter was clarifying that they aren't legal tender.
BigSillyDaisy@reddit
Dammit! Your feed must be set differently to mine, I did have a search but clearly failed
Scared_Turnover_2257@reddit
Notes are essentially just a promissory like cheques and card payments. Anyone who doesn't take Scottish money because they are unsure of its legitimacy is an idiot however there is an argument to be made for not taking smaller notes to avoid challenges from other idiot customers who may get one in change (had a shop boss man explain this to me it was an insightful convo and has stopped me being so much of a dick about it). However given £50s are pretty rare in retail or hospitality transactions (and sometimes not accepted at all in smaller businesses) this doesn't apply to Scottish £20s as most of the time these will be banked by the business anyway. So in short if it's a score note take it if it's a fiver or tenner stick it at the bottom of the pile in the till and only refuse it if the float is looking light.
PeasantErrant@reddit
Happily take them at the shop I manage, but I used to work in a bank branch so I’m familiar with non Bank of England sterling notes
LoomisKnows@reddit
if you bank with the post office they dont take them. It's a real additional hassle
Purple_Feature1861@reddit
A smaller shop I worked in wouldn’t take them because I quote “Would be to much effort exchanging them” and “It’s hard to tell whether they had been faked”
While two bigger shops I worked for were fine with us taking them.
I wouldn’t know how to check if they were real or not though (which I do with ALL notes) so I would usually have to call my supervisor over and just hope the customer didn’t feel offended 😅
llynglas@reddit
Same in the states with $2 notes. Perfectly legal, but you never see them. I think in 40 years I have seen 3 in circulation. So young cashiers see them.and think something nefarious is going on. There have even been cases of the police being involved....
The_Walkin_Dude1@reddit
Because they are not real countries, just parts of England.
BornToDieYoungish@reddit
I seem to be the only Scot I know that's almost never had issues using Scottish notes in England. I've only had one incident in Liverpool, sign up and everything "no Scottish notes." The shopkeeper wasn't pleased when I just placed my £5 note on the counter and left with my stuff. 😂
UrsaGloria@reddit
I used to take Scottish and Irish notes all the time when we took cash.
Indie611@reddit
I work in a building society, so yeah we take them. Along with old paper notes too.
Elruoy@reddit
its literally the pound 'Stirling'
My_sloth_life@reddit
Many years ago (when paper notes were still in use) I tried to pay for some toiletries in Superdrug in Derby. The manager was a complete cunt, ripped the note up in my face as some kind of proof that it was counterfeit and made out I was some kind of thief in front of the whole shop, then he tried to keep the £20 for himself.
Saying that, there was quite a lot of casual bigotry to us in Derby, taxi drivers pretending not to understand us etc despite the fact I have a fairly soft Edinburgh accent so not that broad or hard to understand. I probably shouldn’t have been surprised.
iago18958@reddit
We don't accept Scottish notes now because of the number of fraudulent ones in circulation.
I suspect there are that many, but we English just aren't as adept at knowing the differences.
baechesbebeachin@reddit
Surely you just get one of those pens to check them? Instead of refusing?
iago18958@reddit
They don't issue us those pens, so we haven't used them. Tbf it's extremely rare I see Scottish notes in the Midlands/London so that's another reason
SeniorPea8614@reddit
Are there more fraudulent Scottish notes in circulation?
The security is basically identical, so it seems unlikely forgers would pick a design that's just as hard to forge but stands out and makes more people give it a closer look.
Prior_echoes_@reddit
No there are not. There absolutely was before the plastic switch, I don't know if someone had got hold of the plates or something but there were a lot of fake paper Scottish £20s. You'd see them taped to tills in places.
Plastic though? Safe as the English ones (i.e. yeah there are probably still fakes - although I've only actually seen a fake english plastic note)
Prior_echoes_@reddit
Sorry that's really outdated. They brought the plastic ones in what, 5+ years ago?
It's not been true that there were more fake Scottish notes since (and it was only ever the £20s that had a high fake rate, the 10s and 5s were as safe as the English ones)
westwebwarlord@reddit
I tried to pay for a beer with a Scottish note and the girl on the bar told me I can’t pay with euros
Anyasheppard2410@reddit
We do but you'd have to wait for me to get my check your notes book out.
Ok-Fox1262@reddit
The usual problem with those "foreign" notes is that staff haven't been trained on them. So either the staff don't recognise them or management have instructed staff not to take them. Scottish notes always went to my local pub since the landlord and his mum who ran the place were Glaswegian and those notes either went back to Scotland or to the bank.
And it really doesn't help that forgeries tend to be Scottish notes now for the exact same reasons I mentioned in my above paragraph.
SkipperTheEyeChild1@reddit
The only rationale I can think of is that it’s probably easier to get counterfeit provincial notes accepted because people are less familiar with them in England.
BastardsCryinInnit@reddit
Yes, this is exactly it.
I rarely saw then when I worked in retail, talking one or two a year, but when we did have them, we had to treat them like we did a Bank of England £50 - do your counterfeit checks, and then call over a second person to do the same thing and then both initial the note.
And really I don't think this is overkill at all - if you've never seen one and don't know what they look like and what their authenticity measures are, it's absolutely right to check it's legit.
Elegant_Plantain1733@reddit
Initial the note? Pretty sure you're not supposed to do that? If everyone does it the note will be covered in scribbles by the time it's finished with.
SplurgyA@reddit
It's not uncommon, though. When I was working retail we had to initial every £50 we got, so if it was fake they'd know who to tell off for not doing a counterfeit check properly.
upthewatwo@reddit
That's funny, because in that situation, you would have to do part of the check process (initialing the note), so you clearly know/have been shown at least some of the process, but it's apparent that you don't really understand the reason behind each step of the process, otherwise you wouldn't only do the bit which identifies you as the person to bollock.
People understanding why they do things is important.
BastardsCryinInnit@reddit
I think you've misunderstood - you do the checks and then intital it, so if it's false you can be identified for extra training as opposed to everyone. The person you're replying to does do all the checks.
Don't underestimate social pressure to not get everyone in trouble!
upthewatwo@reddit
Thank you, but I think you've misunderstood my point haha:
My point is more generally about people not knowing WHY they do certain steps in a process, just doing actions by rote.
In the note-checking example, the cashier will have taken the suspect note, done at least one of the various checks for counterfeit notes (highlighter, security strip, watermark, etc), confirmed it as valid through these checks and exchanged the paper money for goods or services, and initialled the note in the till.
Those checks are straightforward and binary: the note either has a valid watermark or it doesn't. So if that note is later found to be counterfeit, and it has the cashier's initials on, it tells me that that person is following at least some steps of the process (initialing the note) without really understanding the importance of each and every step (checking for security strip, holding up to light, etc) and the overall goal of the process.
Sorry for the pedantic paragraphs, I'm realising I'm on the ASD spectrum and "process without purpose" is a massive bugbear!
BastardsCryinInnit@reddit
That's exactly why it was done!
Minute_Parfait_9752@reddit
It's unlikely to be given as change, it'll get banked and washed. It's called money laundering for a reason.
crankyandhangry@reddit
Is this a joke? The term "money laundering" is unrelated to washing notes.
Minute_Parfait_9752@reddit
That doesn't make any sense? What could it possibly mean?
BastardsCryinInnit@reddit
Nope, there's no law or regulation about that.
You're applying an extreme scenario to every day activities. Bank notes aren't 100% scrawled in initials.
It's perfectly fine.
And when a note gets more than say 50% covered, then it's out of circulation and replaced.
BoringWardrobe@reddit
Yes exactly.
I would not be able to tell a counterfeit Scottish note if you asked me, even if it was the most obvious fake ever to a Scot.
Someone barking 'it's legal tender!' wouldn't help convince me either.
Saw_Boss@reddit
Totally. I haven't seen a Scottish note for years, have no real idea what they look like. So long as it feels like a bank note and doesn't say "the bank of buckfast" or such on it, I wouldn't be able to immediately tell a fake.
terryjuicelawson@reddit
Is that the case in reality? If anything they are less accepted and more closely checked. It would be easier to slip a dodgy tenner into a pile of real ones. It was the whole thing behind the fake £1s.
28374woolijay@reddit
The main reason is that people won’t accept them as change. They aren’t even legal tender so it’s no surprise really.
SuzLouA@reddit
Curious to know what you’re buying where you’re getting over £50 in change.
glasgowgeg@reddit
People don't accept them as change because shops whinge and refuse to take them, which leads to more people refusing to accept them as change.
It's cyclical.
stealthykins@reddit
But most people aren’t paying debts in cash, so legal tender is kind of irrelevant.
28374woolijay@reddit
It’s not irrelevant, because currency that isn’t legal tender obviously tends to have less acceptance. Try paying with a florin or a two halfpennies.
stealthykins@reddit
By that logic, people in Scotland wouldn’t accept Scottish notes.
ItsFuckingScience@reddit
Please look up the definition of legal tender
Minute_Parfait_9752@reddit
I used to take a lot of them, then a bloke turned up with one I'd never seen? In the end he scrabbled some coins together but I actually would have taken it given that he was trying so desperately to pay for a service already received and he could have literally walked away 😂 My supervisor wasn't sure either!
Bitchupdrinkies@reddit
its legal tender - tell them you will call the police if they dont accept
FatCunth@reddit
Incorrect
Bitchupdrinkies@reddit
they have to accept legal tender. if they don't it can be viewed as discrimination.
FatCunth@reddit
Legal refers to settling a debt when ordered by the court it doesn't apply to purchases in shops. They can refuse bank of England notes if they want to
Bitchupdrinkies@reddit
Meh... its worked for my Northern irish notes every time
BrieflyVerbose@reddit
I'm in Wales. We got an email from the head office stating we are no longer accepting Scottish notes due to the amount of amazing fakes there are. We've been on the ball with it for months inspecting them but now we're just saying no.
This advice was given to us by the police by the way.
Challenger404@reddit
Back when I used to work at a chinese takeaway in 2014 I'd accept them without even asking the owner, then having him pay me with those notes. No trouble for him, and the start of some nice collections for me (can only share 1 pic, but I have 10 banknote sets in total across Scotland/NI/Gibraltar)
InfectedEllie@reddit
I used to work at a cafe and we would always except Scottish notes. We rarely got them, so it was exciting when we did. Not sure why people don’t accept them since you can still take them to the bank.
Can-t-Even@reddit
I just learnt that Scottish notes cannot be exchanged because well... It's not real money. Now I understand even better why the unicorn is Scotland's national animal...
ababoonsarse@reddit
My grandad told me this, when he used to have to travel down to London for work, first thing he’d do after the first day on the job would be to go the pub and exchange all the Scottish notes for English notes as the pub owner knew he couldn’t hand them out and it was easy set money going straight to the bank.
-You_Cant_Stop_Me-@reddit
Scotish and Irish notes are not legal tender in Ebgland, however places generally accept them because the banks will accept them and do a cash swap with a Scottish branch. So yes when I worked in bars and restaurants I would accept non-Bank of England notes.
Aggravating-Gap-3830@reddit
Have done. Seen a few in about 20 yrs. Better off just changing them at the bank. When we see them we are always like oh FFS where's the special pen and light where's the photos of what it's meant to look like. Holds everyone up in busy places.
100% legal tender. Just annoying.
Fatuousgit@reddit
Scot here. Never bothered me. Not hard to go to an ATM in England, then use notes they recognise. Getting shirty about it is just being a dick. It is what it is. Accept it, deal with it and get on with your life.
The news shows there are far more important things happening in the world than this nonsense.
Aesthetictoblerone@reddit
I work in the Home Counties, yeah we take Scottish notes. We have to put them in a separate thing, but we accept them.
YetAnotherInterneter@reddit
It’s disappointing that Wales doesn’t have its own banknotes. Can you imagine how cool they would look with a bloody dragon on them!!
SneakInTheSideDoor@reddit
Nobody here cares about having our own notes. We only care about a language.
Aur_a_Du@reddit
We do have the mint though. Maybe we should just start adding dragons to all notes.
forzafoggia85@reddit
Might risk burning all the rest of the notes however
joemorl97@reddit
I happily accept them I don’t give a fuck it’s not my money anyway, what they going to do fire me I hope they do
allthebeautifultimes@reddit
it feels low-key like discrimination to not accept them to me. How much would it cost ya to take half hour to teach your staff how to recognise fakes?
paulmclaughlin@reddit
There were 22.67 million people in employment in the private sector in England in 2023 according to the ONS provisional data set. I'd estimate from the 2-digit SIC codes there are around 10 million people out of this set who are likely to handle cash as part of their jobs.
5 million hours at the current living wage of £11.44 per hour for those aged over 21 would be £57.2 million.
At a 40 year duration of working life, this would annually cost a minimum of £1.4 million.
allthebeautifultimes@reddit
And how much would it cost for each individual shop? What it costs for the whole country isn't really relevant to the local Londis. You could also cut out nearly all training with the argument that it saves money, but I think a comprehensive training scheme is ultimately going to lead to better service and a better reputation for your business. Just my two pence.
Chaardvark11@reddit
It's not.
I work down in Essex, we get Scottish notes about once in a blue moon, usually during the summer, when people go to the UK for their holidays and pick up Scottish notes before coming down south, or because some Scots are coming to visit family.
Because of this none of us are trained on Scottish notes, our managers don't say we can't take them, but they would prefer it if we didn't because they don't know how to verify them, and if the head office notes it as fake then we'll both get into trouble. For that reason we just don't accept Scottish or northern Irish notes, it's not discrimination, we just don't know how to confidently identify these notes, and because we don't deal with them on a regular basis it would be hard to train.
feetflatontheground@reddit
When I lived in Cumbria, it wasn't unusual for shops to take and even give Scottish notes.
There are 3 different banks in Scotland that issue notes, and they each have their own design. So for people/places who don't usually even see Scottish notes, that could be confusing.
The first time I got money from an ATM in Scotland, I was momentarily confused, as they weren't the ones I was used to seeing.
I don't think I've ever seen a Northern Irish bank note, and I've been to northern Ireland.
Mysterious-Joke-2266@reddit
From Northern Ireland and own a shop, I always take a second glance at Scottish notes as wouldn't see as many. Always have one's asking if I've any "English notes" as they're going over and "they never take our money"
I know myself that different ones get a bit odd when they see NI notes as ours have God knows who on it (I don't even know who half them are myself). Going to Scotland this weekend so I've cash in just putting in the bank to save the hassle but I'll have a look to see if I've any English or Scottish notes first!
I 100% can appreciate why folks are funny about our money considering we're notorious for our extra curricular activities of red diesel cleaning and drugs in from the EU.
Gulbasaur@reddit
Shop owner here. Yes, of course we do.
Old paper tenners, though, that have been out of circulation for years? No.
No, not this once. No, we didn't last time and I know that because I do the banking. No I can't just swap it at the bank because we have to do our banking at the post office because all the branches bloody closed years ago, didn't they? No I'm not going to post it to the bank of England.
davethecave@reddit
Also a shop owner. A few years ago I had a Scottish customer who was furious that the burger chain had refused his Scottish notes. He kicked up a fuss and received an apology from the head office. Whenever I was given Scottish notes, I passed them onto him so he could buy a burger.
Vainybangstick@reddit
I felt that deep in my chest from when I worked at dvd/sweet shop. The amount of people who would try stuff like that was insane.
Gulbasaur@reddit
My favourite was when someone tried to get a discount for paying in cash and then had a smug little tantrum when I told him that due to banking fees cash worked out more expensive for the amount he was paying.
I'm on a fairly good rate for card payments and business banking has fees attached for paying in cash, plus the additional time cost factored in to doing the end of day banking in cash, depositing it, sorting out the float etc. Cash is a pain in the arse, but no "they" are not going to get rid of it. The card machine is also a pain in the arse. It's just the cost of doing business.
It's never enough for me to really worry about it (and lots of business owners pay themselves in cash and declare it so avoid the bank fees), but it does add up and it's a useful little factlet to whip out when people are being shits.
Cheques can eat my farts, though and we don't take those at all.
terryjuicelawson@reddit
I think small businesses that take cash maybe don't bank it at all, it goes straight back to the cash and carry or used in Tesco to do their shopping, that is the point. But a devious tax dodge and road to riches it ain't.
LordAeryn@reddit
Your local post office will accept paper £20, £10, £5 notes and old £1 coins within your banking, just in case anyone ever takes them by accident
NickHugo@reddit
I had a Scottish friend of mine buy a phone off me in scottish £20s, they had a cute squirrel on em.. anyways.. come to spend them at Next and asked if they accepted them, the lady on the till said only notes from clydesdale bank, fortunately they were.
dl1966@reddit
Nah we don’t take them
dl1966@reddit
Don’t get the downvotes, literally answering the question. I didn’t make the decision. 😂
zonked282@reddit
Scottish, yes. Irish, no
Mobile_Librarian1724@reddit
Why do you not accept sterling issued by Northern Irish banks?
Daveddozey@reddit
lol. People downvoting for you answering the question.
Thenedslittlegirl@reddit
This will likely no longer be a thing in a few years as people don’t seem to use cash anymore. While the legal tender thing is a bit of a riddy, shops can bank them just the same and there’s not really any reason not to take them. My mate gave me a NI fiver recently when he came back from Belfast as he didn’t think he could spend it. Used it in a shop in my town without any issues.
My town is basically the 33rd county mind you.
Mollystring@reddit
No longer legal tender
glasgowgeg@reddit
Legal tender only applies as a legal defence to settlement of debts, it has nothing to do with transactions.
Mollystring@reddit
That’s why we don’t accept it in my place of work
glasgowgeg@reddit
Do you work in a court, or in relation to court ordered debts? If not, legal tender is not a relevant concept.
Mollystring@reddit
I understand what you’re saying but that’s our reason for not accepting it.
Regardless of whether it’s relevant or not.
It’s we say to customers.
The real reason is most likely around not having any banks to deposit it in or wholesalers that take them
glasgowgeg@reddit
You literally said that's why you don't accept it.
Any bank will take them, they're legal currency.
Mollystring@reddit
Yes that’s what we tell people.
I’ve yet to have anyone go on about all this court order stuff.
I just show them on google and they whip out a card or english notes
No local branches
glasgowgeg@reddit
So you lie to customers because you don't understand how bank notes work?
Mollystring@reddit
It’s not a lie.
They’re not legal tender. They take that as the reason and provide an alternative.
I’ve yet to have anyone walk out without purchasing
I know exactly how bank notes work
glasgowgeg@reddit
Unless you work for a court, that doesn't apply and you're lying to your customers to indicate they can't pay with them.
Evidently not, because you seem to be under the impression that legal tender applies to your shop, it doesn't.
Mollystring@reddit
Nope I say we can’t take them. They agree.
Their usual response was “but it’s legal tender”
To Which I now say “it’s not legal tender”
Also - it’s our store. We can decide whether we take a a particular payment or not. I’d like to see someone argue with me otherwise 😃
lloyddav@reddit
If it says Sterling on the note then it's legal, simple. Bosses who get funny about it are just being dicks
burnafterreading90@reddit
How’re they being dicks about it? They’re allowed to refuse it as payment.
glasgowgeg@reddit
I'm allowed to refuse service because you have a shit haircut too, wouldn't mean I'm not a dick for doing so.
burnafterreading90@reddit
Excellent comparison.. spot on..
glasgowgeg@reddit
It's a perfectly fine comparison.
Legally I'm allowed to refuse to serve you because I think your haircut is shite but it would be a dick move to do so.
There's no law saying I need to serve people with shit haircuts.
burnafterreading90@reddit
You’re misusing the term legal tender, legal tender is what can be used to settle debts in courts..
glasgowgeg@reddit
Re-read my comments properly.
I specifically said legal tender doesn't apply to transactions.
1dontknowanythingy@reddit
Whenever I go to england I purposely take scottish money just for a laugh and it’s always been accepted to my disappointment.
one5one2@reddit
Live and work in Wales. Where I work, we do accept them but they’re always checked thoroughly because of the unfamiliarity, same with Northern Irish Sterling.
I hate when you’ve got someone with Scottish Sterling who thinks you’re Xenophobic because you have to check them, so obviously “hate Scottish people/Scotland”
I’m just doing my job pal, calm down!
Obvious-Water569@reddit
Back when I worked at McDonald's in college I used to have to explain this to colleagues all the time.
"It's not a different currency, you moron! Just take the damn twenty quid and stop bothering me!"
marknotgeorge@reddit
I'd happily accept Scottish notes when I was on till at McD's. I did put them all under the till tray with the £20s though, as it wasn't worth the hassle trying to give them out as change.
Obvious-Water569@reddit
Oh yeah there’s that too.
Gold-Environment2071@reddit
Supermarket worker here. We can accept the Scottish notes but have been told to call a supervisor to double check
SpamJavelin00@reddit
No way !! The reason is (especially anywhere near major train stations on the Scotland - England lines ) it’s a favourite trick of the Glaswegian heroin enthusiasts etc, to pass off bundles of fake Scottish notes - easy as English aren’t familiar with them. A CID detective for GMP told me that, did a tour of Manchester centre last year telling shops NOT to accept them.
SpamJavelin00@reddit
Others may say they’re legal tender & retailer must accept them - but likewise retailer is not obliged to serve anyone at all, they can tell anyone they like to get out , whether they pay by English notes , Scottish, visa debit or Afghan dangleberries
sirgreyskull@reddit
I accept a small amount of Scottish notes but only because i have family in Scotland that we visit a couple of times a year. Other than for this reason I would not accept Scottish notes.
Painal-Performer-69@reddit
NIPLIE (Northern Ireland person living in England) - negotiating non BOE notes can be problematic.
Go to a business that handles a lot of cash - they don't bat an Eyelid. McDonalds were reliable.
My bank has a Post Office facility to handle cash. They used to have a manual identifying valid notes. The machine behind the counter that counts notes knows NI and Scottish Notes and can check 30 notes in about 10 seconds.
The cashier separates the Scottish and Belfast notes, they are returned to their country of origin via post office cash handling services
higgleberryfinn@reddit
Of course, IT'S LEGAL TENDER.
darybrain@reddit
It's the Channel island notes you have to worry about.
Spirited_Entry1940@reddit
I THINK YOU'LL FIND THAT'S LEGAL TENDER
Natural_Speed_2278@reddit
We accept them in our store. Just have to change the note scanner to SCT.
trainpk85@reddit
My daughters step mum is Scottish and when she first started seeing her dad she still worked in Scotland and always gave her money on weekends. Then her family would always give her cash. She had one of those pots where you break them open and we thought it was coins but it was about £1400 in Scottish notes because she didn’t want them but was too polite to ask anyone to change them but thankfully knew not to bin them so “hid” them in the money pot.
Nok1a_@reddit
I've been over a decade living in Uk, I've seen only few times Irish or Scottish notes, but I remember in 2013 working in Oxford my manager got very angry to someone from Ireland or Scottland when they tried to use one of the notes, which they were totally legal... afterwards he told me never to take one of those because dont know what stupid thing , I asked him are they legal? he said yes, then I "agreed" with him not taking them, but fck him if they are legal I'll take them.
Now the reason I would take them 1 becase they are legal, 2nd becuase this fucking twat was foreigner and racist towards irish or scotish for who knows what stupid reason, I mean why are you angry with Irish or Scottish even if you are no british you dont have any history with that.
Otherwise_Hunter8425@reddit
I live and work in retail in the Lakes so we get Scottish notes pretty regularly and we don't bat an eyelid at them, but I tried to pay with one in Birmingham once and you'd have thought I was trying to use Monopoly money.
I guess it's the old adage that the further south you get the less likely you are to see Scottish notes in circulation so the more of a big deal it is when you do.
NI notes are less common than Scottish ones but again, we're used to seeing them occasionally so you might do a bit of a double take if you're handed one but once we've done the usual counterfeit checks then they just go into the till ... Due to the fact they're such a rarity though we generally don't hand them out as change - either a member of staff will want to swap their "standard" £5 for the NI one or we will just send it to the cash office at the end of the day to be sent with the cash drop to save the headache of arguing with a customer who doesn't want the "weird note" in their change.
riverscreeks@reddit
I once had a taxi driver accept a northern Irish note in Wokingham, purely for the novelty of
AffectionateJump7896@reddit
TBH I wouldn't want a weird note in my change. I'm not taking that back down south and not having it accepted.
TeamOfPups@reddit
I used to live in the Lakes and work in a shop there too.
Yeah we'd get and accept these notes all the time no bother.
But we used to put them at the bottom of the pile in the till and not give them out in change, because customers didn't want them.
Later I went to uni in Scotland but I'd be back to work vacations, and I'd always get given the Scottish notes in my wages.
AnnoyedHaddock@reddit
I’m from Manchester and Scottish notes are pretty rare here. Northern Irish notes are like pixie dust, I think I’ve only ever seen one. Admittedly I don’t handle cash for work but still.
charlotte_e6643@reddit
at the place my mum owns, we aren’t allowed to as they are the most common fakes
miked999b@reddit
Just waiting for someone to randomly announce "cash is king" for no obvious reason whatsoever.
AlfCosta@reddit
Worked for a financial institution. Did a project on those notes counting machines. Had to specify that it had to accept and deliver Scottish bank notes.
Pure-Trifle-218@reddit
I worked in a bar and someone tried paying with a Scottish £20 note, didn’t know if I could accept it so asked my manager and he said we couldn’t accept it and there was a cash machine round corner, when we finished work I asked why we couldn’t take it and was told it was more of a faff to accept when they could just pay with an English £20 note
Same_Grouness@reddit
How is it more of a faff? They fit in the till just the same.
Pure-Trifle-218@reddit
I’m not sure, he wasn’t the pleasantest manager so I didn’t ask anything further on it, if it was up to me I’d have just accepted it
Plastic-Machine-9537@reddit
Scottish notes used to lack the same same security checks as English notes.
When I worked in a co op when I was young this was pointed out to me when I asked the manager why we didnt accept them. There were also times when we would get notified by the local police that other shops in the area had found fake 50s and it was always Scottish notes.
The Scottish notes are now much better but I think it's almost traditional at this ppint to forge the Scottish notes so the reputation stuck.
Own_Art_2465@reddit
I refuse them if the customer is Scottish for the laughs
Same_Grouness@reddit
But then you just have to put everything back on the shelf.
Own_Art_2465@reddit
Yeah I get Alisdair to do that for me
defylife@reddit
The government should pas a law forcing all retailers;) et al. to accept Scottish and Northern Irish notes. Job done. ;)
LondonCycling@reddit
I live in Scotland but am regularly back in Wales seeing friends and family. Or in Wales/England hiking. I take cash as there's still people who don't take card - farmers selling eggs, spuds, etc.
I actually don't seem to have many issues spending the Scottish notes.
I had one guy in a corner shop in London refused a couple of years ago but that's the last time I can remember them being refused.
Oh actually, I remember getting them refused on a flight to Istanbul. The card machine wasn't playing ball, the attendant asked if I had cash, and I said well no Turkish lira. She asked if I had dollars (US defaultism woo!), or what other currencies I had. I said I had pound sterling. She called her boss who said ok they can take sterling. I handed a Clydesdale Bank £20 note, and she said no it has to be sterling, I said it is sterling, she called her boss who said no. I didn't kick up a fuss or anything, just mentally had a chuckle to myself.
And that is the story or how I unsuccessfully tried to buy a can of Sprite on Indiego.
I did once bring back Northern Irish banknotes to Scotland, went to pay for a drink, and the lass did a proper double take on the banknote. They look similar, but clearly different if you work with cash all day. She accepted it fine. Not sure I'd fancy my chances spending NI notes south of the border.
Prior_echoes_@reddit
Some of the NI notes are the "wrong" colour
Also when the plastic switch happened and they recalled the English paper £5s I had a ball ache because some folks took that to mean all paper £5s (which it did not, at the time there were no plastic NI notes so they were absolutely all still fine).
You try paying in Asda with a green, paper £5 note 😂
Spent them all in the end though, no trips to the bank needed.
LondonCycling@reddit
Yeah, I wouldn't fancy my chances with it. Maybe in Liverpool with people coming off the Belfast ferry?
The Scottish notes do invoke a reaction though. Often a member of staff calls over their supervisor or manager to check it. Similar with £50 notes - I've managed to spend these mostly OK, but my local Sainsbury's for example had a policy that a manager had to approve them. I wish I didn't get them, but they came from a poker tournament winning where they used reddies all the time.
JBEqualizer@reddit
I've lived in Northumberland most of my life and have worked in both retail and hospitality. I could count on one hand the number of times I've actually seen an NI note.
Ging3rNuts@reddit
I accept both, but I've never seen a Northern Irish note before admittedly. Usually get Scottish notes once every couple of months depending on where I'm working
JourneyThiefer@reddit
The NI ones look quite different from the English ones, different colours and all, it’s also printed by 3 banks, so there’s 3 types of every note
Ging3rNuts@reddit
I'll have to keep an eye out for them then. I'm working over there next year so I'm sure I'll come across them
shortercrust@reddit
I live in Sheffield and work in Scotland a bit. The only place I know that doesn’t accept non BoH sterling notes is my local post office.
I run retail events all over the country and had one of the staff ask me in Dundee if we accept Scottish notes! Not sure how it would have gone down if I’d said no. We accept them wherever we are.
Vivid-Blacksmith-122@reddit
Michael McIntyre does a comedy routine about people trying to use Scottish money in England.
EvilRobotSteve@reddit
When I used to work retail I was told it was because they're easier to forge (I don't know if this is true) and harder to tell the difference between real and genuine ones (this is true if only because of awareness. I know what to look for to check a genuine "regular" note, I don't when it comes to Scottish/NI notes)
Worth noting I haven't worked retail in nearly 20 years, so this may likely be a different situation now.
tzorntan@reddit
Money is money so I'm taking it
Figueroa_Chill@reddit
I see Scottish people having this problem, but funnily enough, they seem to be all online. I have never had a problem spending my Bank of Scotland notes in England, I think it was more down to people being given something they haven't seen before and not knowing if it's fake or not, guess they have nothing to compare it to so they know it's legit.
Far_Internal_4495@reddit
I'll have you know pal, that's legal tenderrrr
RevenantSith@reddit
Yes.. but they get examined and occasionally a manager called over but people aren’t very familiar with them
Farscape_rocked@reddit
I don't work in retail any more but I would take them, yes. I used to live in Newcastle and am familiar with Scottish notes, but my gf at the time lived in Bristol and it was always a problem arriving there with scottish money. Also a problem trying to get a bit of head on a pint.
Lazy_Industry_6309@reddit
No. Rather not go to the trouble of changing it.
shad_fizz@reddit
when I worked retail in England, the staff always queried Scottish and Irish notes purely because they didn't know what they were - they hadn't seen them before. As the resident Scot, they always asked me and I had to be like "ffs yes you can accept it"
juniperchill@reddit
In Scotland, BoE notes are almost always accepted alongside their own. Same could be said for NI
In England, Scottish notes should generally be accepted, althougg be prepared if staff doesnt recognise them. Just tell them while the notes are differernt, its still sterling. A similar situation arises with the $2 bill in America where these are not in regular circulation, and shops often dont have a dedicated place to put them
AdThat328@reddit
They're legal currency...I accepted them when I worked in Boots because...it's still the same amount of money...
HardAtWorkISwear@reddit
I always took Scottish notes because they're legal tender. I think the issue some businesses have is that there's a lack of familiarity with them so it'd be easier to slip a counterfeit through.
Northern Irish notes, however, are not legal tender in England, so I wouldn't accept them. Same as I wouldn't accept a Euro.
rakesh986@reddit
Yes we go take Scottish notes as cash . I own a restaurant in Leicestershire
Anxious_wank@reddit
I've just picked up some Scottish notes from Morrisons self service tils when getting cash back in the middle of England.
It doesn't help that these ten/twenty pound Scottish notes look smaller and feel different to the English notes. I'm sure I'll get rid of them somehow though.
Wild-Wolverine-860@reddit
In Wales and yes the odd note is Scottish, nobody really makes any comments about them. Oddly it's the first one you will spend though
EndPsychological2541@reddit
Fake Scottish £20 notes are rife. They've been causing issues for MONTHS now.
I'm not talking bits of paper with £20 drawn on.. These notes are making it through most machines and are only really getting caught at cash centers.
Some cash centers have refused to take Scottish £20 notes as they are losing so much money on them.
It's not a bad idea to be mindful of what notes you take.
£20 isn't always £20.
To add to this, about 3 months ago, a new template was released to catch the rbs fake 20s. A week later a new one was discovered, which required a different template.
It's a game of cat and mouse, where the mouse always gets a head start.
Inevitable_Comedian4@reddit
I'm in Scotland and refuse all English notes in change from shops.
matmah@reddit
Way down south here. At the moment there is a large amount of counterfeit Scottish fifties trying to be spent in our town, especially in the pubs.
I'm pretty sure you'd probably be ok with a five or ten pound note in our area, but I doubt you'd be able to spend a Scottish fifty except in the larger stores. Saying that a lot of the small shops probably wouldn't accept an English fifty. They'd probably have the excuse, not enough change.
Bear in mind, Scottish notes aren't that common here though. I've probably seen a one or two in the last ten years.
shredditorburnit@reddit
Lady in front of me at the local shop used Irish notes (northern not republic of) the other night. New guy had to call a supervisor and they did accept them (this is in England btw).
Couldn't resist winding him up and asking if they accepted South African Rand when he ran mine through. Had to stop him halfway through turning to ask.
mousey76397@reddit
Nah sorry mate, only Ugandan shillings.
tired_watchman@reddit
All I hear is Phonejacker when someone mentions Uganda 😂
"Good afternoon good evening Madam, I just need your bank account noombah because we are steam cleaning thah vault."
aquietocean@reddit
yeah we just get a manager to check them cause we're down south and rarely see them
NoIllustrator9993@reddit
Oh my gosh, I’m Welsh and once I was given a Scottish £10 which I accepted, because £10 is £10, and then later in the day I had to give a woman change and she wouldn’t accept the note so I had to give her 10 £1 coins because I had run out of other £10s and £5s! Infuriating during a rush
LordAeryn@reddit
You don't have to give change, if she refuses what you offer her then sorry but that's her tough luck
LordAeryn@reddit
Postmaster of a local post office - we accept all Scottish and Irish notes, however due to the excessive amounts of Bank of Scotland notes being forged, my staff are not allowed to take them without my approval. I can not count the amount of them I've impounded. Clydesdale notes however staff can take at leisure.
MushroomStriking5499@reddit
Scottish notes are dope but it's just unfamiliar. But we all should definitely accept it
Northern Ireland notes I've never seen, so I'd prob be skeptical but then try figure things out
KaleidioSixers@reddit
We did, and if anything the people giving them to me were more aggressive than my boss was when he saw them haha. I would always pause when handed one, because of course I’m so used to the English money I’d do a double take. In those three seconds, somebody would almost always pipe up and snap, “It’s legal tender, you have to take it!” Which, it’s not, and I don’t have to take anyone’s money if I don’t feel like it, but carry on and here’s your food haha
cringemaster21p@reddit
Any supermarket that operates in i's self checkouts.
Suspicious_tuna@reddit
That's how I get rid of any N Irish notes I get stuck with after trips there.
Slight_Armadillo_227@reddit
thealchemist1000-@reddit
Scottish notes in England may not necessarily be fakes, but are almost always handed over by dubious looking characters…so immediately you are on edge, or karen looking women who you don’t want to argue with, but also dont want your payment docked for taking in a fake…so either way you are going to get into an altercation.
I just now say its store policy not to accept anything and than english notes. Any complaints can be sent via email to the manager.
Professor_Sqi@reddit
Nope. Got no way of genuinely checking their legitimacy unlike English notes, and I'm not familiar with them so it isnt worth the risk. And anyway, why are you so far south with NI notes anyway? Especially more than 1 or 2.
yourvenusdoom@reddit
I’m a stripper so mostly take cash! If I can verify a Scottish note, hell yeah. I’m not familiar with northern Irish notes so probably wouldn’t risk that and would ask them to use it at the bar.
CarlMacko@reddit
I was in England recently. The staff at WH Smith refused them but states the self service checkout takes them.
I understand the unfamiliarity, but it’s just exhausting trying to just simply spend money.
BeastMidlands@reddit
The only place I’ve ever worked when I would be occasionally presented with Scottish money is a spoons in central London. The tills were designed to accept not only pounds but dollars, euros, yen, etc. and yes they accepted Scottish money.
I remember being handed Scottish notes by Scots who would then death stare at me in anticipation of my response. Fun times.
ackbladder_@reddit
I can’t blame young minimum wage retail workers who don’t know what a Scottish note is. It’s super rare ableit very annoying I imagine. I’ve never had an issue the few times I’ve had them.
bonkerz1888@reddit
It almost always boils down to ignorance.
thatscotbird@reddit
I used to work in retail in Scotland and when an English customer came through with an English note I pretended to be all confused and would ask my team leader if we can accept it, sometimes I miss being an immature 18 year old
Heads_Down_Thumbs_Up@reddit
18?
This gives me 60 year old dad vibes haha
BlockCharming5780@reddit
Right? I was picturing some old senior awaiting his retirement until I read “18” 🤣
ledow@reddit
Personally, I hate all cash equally.
But if I was running a business I'd take them because it's only going to end up in the bank anyway.
I'd be suspicious of any large value note of any kind but apart from that, it's money and I'd take it.
Unosmyga@reddit
I used to work at a holiday park shop on the southeast coast of England. The Scottish school holidays happen a few weeks before the English so you'd get used to the different notes during that period, although no clue what a counterfeit one would look like.
I'd usually stick them at the bottom of the note drawer as people can be a little funny about accepting them as change. Did once open the shop one morning to find the only £10 notes in the drawer were Scottish ones so that was a rough few hours
uk451@reddit
The going rate in edinburgh when I lived there was £80 for £200 of fake Scottish £20s. They were pretty realistic, just the texture was off. So I don’t blame people in England for not accepting them.
k1tkat86@reddit
I'm in Orkney so only really see scottish notes, went to give my son his £5 pocket money and he refused it as the note didn't have fish on it, I seemed to have picked up a boring English note somewhere.
Sasspishus@reddit
Do they still have the occasional £1 notes kicking around in Orkney?
TumbleweedDeep4878@reddit
I had a customer try to refuse one as change once. She was foreign but just wouldn't believe me when I said it was fine. There was a bank next door and she finally left saying 'if they won't deposit this I'm coming straight back' ofc never saw her again
LilGreenGobbo@reddit
Working in a Scottish shop and if we had customers getting funny about it I always hoped I'd have an Irish note in the till to give them a heart attack with. You really didn't see many and they were even more different. If people were polite I would give them English money cos It can be a pain. Most take Scottish money no problem.
Beneficial-Metal-666@reddit
I grew up in and around Corby, Scottish notes were very common so I always accepted them without issue.
Significant_Shirt_92@reddit
When I worked somewhere with cash I'd accept them but then they'd be shoved at the back of the notes so I didn't give them as change. If I only had them left I'd give the choice of a Scottish note (I never got a northern Irish note) or pound coins.
Prior_echoes_@reddit
To be fair to your old boss, back with the paper notes the Scottish £20 was like THE forged note. Not the 10s or 5s, specifically the £20.
Was easily checked with a pen and a blacklight though.
And now they're all plastic the Scottish ones are no more likely to be fake than the English
veryblocky@reddit
I used to work in a shop in Northumberland, so relatively close to the border, and we were told not to accept Scottish notes.
howlongisnow26@reddit
We don’t accept them where i work because of the amount of forgeries we were being given , pretty much every non BOE note was a forgery at one point. Had a few instances where customers said we were breaking the law and would ring 999 but they would usually give up after about half an hour of waiting for the police.
ElectricalActivity@reddit
I've lived in London for 12 years and never seen a Scottish note here. But then also rarely see cash at all these days. Last time I saw a Scottish bank note was in Iraq, strangely.
I've seen them in other parts of England but it's just not common so I can see why it confuses the shop worker.
ErskineLoyal@reddit
When I was in London a few years back a pub next to White Hart Lane took all and any Scottish notes. The barman was an Irishman, and as far as he was concerned, it was British money.
ErskineLoyal@reddit
I found a Northern Irish fiver at Ibrox during a game. I had no trouble spending it in the area..
Paulstan67@reddit
I always took them (Manchester area) , the main issue was the risk of forgeries.
Because we didn't see these notes often it was not easy to confirm their validity.
Shporpoise@reddit
I went to a pub and they said 'cash only' so I walked home and found £50 in my dresser, went back and they said, 'not that cash'. I was in England with english pounds. It's about whether they know its real or not. If they aren't familiar with it, it can be their own currency and they will gawk.
I hated the new $100's when they came out. The realler it was the faker it felt. When i had a fake one once, it seemed more real that the real ones.
I used a $1,000 MXN bill at a store in Mexico once and they had a store council meeting around it before accepting it.
Getting a bunch of 500's there is a pain at the atm. It's about £37.5 and the locals might have trouble changing a 200 for you. So walking around with 1,000's (£75) might as well be like paying in gold ingots.
Getting ripped off could be for any amount of money and it feels the same way in my experience. 20-100 doesn't really change it that much. It's the thought that counts.
But as a customer when someone holds a $5 bill up to the light, I'm like, I'm sorry, do I have face tattoos that only other people can see?
bopeepsheep@reddit
In retail ~40 years ago (!) we were not allowed to take them because we "weren't able to spot forgeries as easily" which was awkward the time Douglas Hurd offered one. Our shop manager was a big fan, so eventually decided to take it. When I was briefly a manager a few years later I took them.
I'm currently in Scotland for the third time this year and brought back Scottish notes the previous two trips. The hardest part was finding somewhere to use cash, not Scottish cash. It's all cards now.
Impressive_Monk_5708@reddit
I don't, purely so I can hear the Scottish say "I think you'll find thats legal tender pal"
No-Photograph3463@reddit
I know about 10 years ago where I am on the South coast of england they generally weren't accepted, as amongst other things its a weird note to have down here so likely a counterfit.
littlebutters1@reddit
I work in a shop we were allowed to take them until recently, they said it's because there's a lot of fake ones, we're also not allowed to take English £50s
ParisLondon56@reddit
Used to work in a supermarket. As long as it said "Sterling" we"d accept it.
flourarranger@reddit
Yus. Because it's the legally correct position.
cgknight1@reddit
Well the legally correct position is that it's up to the shop keeper.
thatstoomuchsauce@reddit
We do, but it's very common for the younger staff members to come and ask the older ones if we do because they've never seen them before.
DarkStreamDweller@reddit
At both of my retail jobs we accepted Scottish bank notes.
bibbiddybobbidyboo@reddit
I used to work in retail and we had a board with pictures of Scottish and Northern Ireland bank notes. We’d just say “one second” grab the board and make a joke that they’d passed. Most people were fine about it.
spiders_are_scary@reddit
I did but I would check extra carefully as I’m not as familiar with them. My colleagues couldn’t even be trusted with accepting English notes (like the £50 that said ‘for film production only’ on it’) or even GBP (the euros they accepted…)
sjw_7@reddit
Its understandable why there can be confusion when someone tries to pay with Scottish or Northern Ireland notes.
Paying with your card or phone has become far more common in recent years and you are less likely to see someone pay in cash than you did five or ten years ago.
Many young people working in retail, bars etc may never have seen a Scottish or NI note and quite possibly are unaware of their existence. I haven't seen one in years and would do a double take if I was handed one in some change.
stinglikeameg@reddit
I live in the south of England and have honestly never seen a Scottish or Northern Irish note. So if I call a colleague over to help me it's not personal, I'd just want to make sure.
efitchuk@reddit
I used to work for a Scottish bank in England so we could take the notes in but not hand them back out. Some customers came in just to ask for Scottish notes! I used to like the little £1 notes - tiny and cute!
potatogamin@reddit
Yes but it has to say Sterling
BarleyWineStein@reddit
Scottish notes appear every now and again. We have the relevant info leaflet from the BoE about checking English notes, but don't have the equivalent for the Scottish ones. So, yeah it might be easier to pass a fake through the system (something we can address, of course).
The biggest kicker is that the Post Office which handles our cash now refuse to take them due to the circulation of fakes. That means that any ones we get need to be taken to our actual bank to be paid in. Something that is becoming increasingly more like a pain in the arse now that they are shutting the branches down all over the place. So you end up with "dead" money until you accumulate enough of them to justify an out-of-way trip to the bank. Money sat doing nothing in the safe is no good to anyone.
Vainybangstick@reddit
Most of my family are in Scotland so quite often I have Scottish notes if I go see them or they come here and give the kids money (I swap it out of English for the kids) and there’s only a few places I’ve had it turned down. This is in Manchester. Not seen Irish notes however since mid 2000’s when I worked in dvd and pick and mix shop.
foreverunamused@reddit
I was always told Scottish notes were more likely to be forgeries so to be more careful with them
Kitchen-Tension791@reddit
I worked in a shop when I was 16 , getting paid 60 quid a week many years ago.
I accepted a 50 quid note , looked real to me had the queen's face in the middle bit when I held it up to the light.
Turns out ot was fake I give the guy £45 in change and the shop owner took it out of my wages and told me to keep the 50 and try and spend it.
Ridiculous
Mr-_-Steve@reddit
Because they are not legal tender id say...They are not illegal though and are a direct 1 for 1 comparison but because of this anyone can refuse them as payment for anything.
Main story has always been because fakes are easy to make, but because the currency is not as widely used if you got handed a blatant fake.. you wouldn't recognise it.
Also banks in England and Wales can refuse them so as a business you are taking a risk accepting them.
YouAnswerToMe@reddit
I own two shops in south-west England, been trading since 2017 and in that time Ive seen a grand total of 2 Scottish bank notes. I accepted them on both occasions because I didn’t want to seem rude, one of them turned out to be counterfeit.
britinnit@reddit
I've worked in multiple Co-ops around NW England. Scottish is fine now that they're plastic, it used to be refuse. Irish is still refusal. Reason being is fake notes.
Delicious-Cut-7911@reddit
My dad in the 70's used to drive a lorry up to Inverness. He would come back with Scottish notes and no-one would take them as they did not believe they were real. We are English
Able_Jelly_8727@reddit
I used to work in retail, in East Anglia so pretty far away from Scotland or NI, I saw Scottish notes often enough that I'd accept them no problem.
Even now in my 40s I've never seen an NI note, and didn't even know they were different until I saw a similar post on here in the past month (not something I'd ever thought about), so I would have had to check with a supervisor/ manager if I did have one handed to me just because I wouldn't recognise it.
JourneyThiefer@reddit
Yea our notes in NI look very different from the English ones
iwanttobeacavediver@reddit
My old job would accept Scottish notes and I can't remember ever seeing a NI note. Usually meant calling a manager to get them to double-check though.
I actually remember going to Carlisle and going to an ATM for money where it spat out a bunch of Scottish notes. I was dreading having to try and find ways to spend them but it turns out that as Carlisle is on the truck routes up to Scotland, particularly Glasgow and Dundee, everywhere took them as standard.
YourLocalMosquito@reddit
I tried to pay the dinner lady with a Scottish fiver when I was in secondary school. She wouldn’t take it. I was livid. She wasn’t for changing her mind. So I had to go hungry that day. It was near 30 years ago and I’m still mad about it.
Spottyjamie@reddit
I live in cumbria so we get scottish, isle of man, northern ireland notes often
However once we try and use them beyond preston is another matter
No_Top6466@reddit
Yeah however they were a pain as customers would always refuse to take them as change. When I was a kid my grandad who lives in Scotland would send me money in a birthday card, we would just swap the notes from Scottish to English at the bank as they were hard to get anyone to accept at the time.
Remarkable_Piano_594@reddit
I think things have been changing. I paid with Scottish notes in Hertfordshire and they didn’t mention a thing about it.
broccoliforbrains@reddit
Used to work in a supermarket and we were told not to accept anything but Bank of England notes. I accidentally accepted a Scottish 20 once and got 'taken into the office'
Shan-Chat@reddit
I questioned an NI note once as I hadn't seen it before. Just asked a manager about it and they said they were fine. No issue. It's just the over the border.
Lazy_Industry_6309@reddit
No. Rather not go to the trouble of changing it.
atomic_mermaid@reddit
Yes, people are morons if they don't. I've had customers refuse to take a scottish fiver in change. Sucks to be them, I'm not giving you another one.
SuperMotard-7@reddit
Fully expect it’s that someone somewhere once took a fraudulent note. Certainly that people are not familiar with bank note checks.
THE_THIRT33N@reddit
I moved to Belfast a few years ago and travel home each year to see family in the south of England. Trying to pay with Northern Irish notes is like trying to give people monopoly money. Although one time a taxi driver who'd never seen one before got all excited to take one home to show to his wife 😂
borokish@reddit
Bloody jocks and their horrible, foreign money.
If I owned a shop I wouldn't even let them in
laser_spanner@reddit
I used to work in a homeware store in Herefordshire. We often had Scottish notes and occasionally Irish bank notes handed over. I always took them but we usually tried to bank them rather than give them back out in change.
I think my boss used to find them annoying because they sometimes used cash to go to antiques fairs to spend and those notes wouldn't be easy to use.
PhoenixRosehere@reddit
I had worked in retail and in the 2/3 years I was there we only had one customer pay with Scottish notes and it was the first time I had seen them. I had been to Edinburgh several times for years before but had always used card.
Seeing them, I thought they were lovely.
LavenderCandi@reddit
I work in Northern England, pretty common to see the occasional Scottish note, and I was under the impression we had to accept them. Usually end up being banked as soon as possible though as yea we take them, but customers usually don’t want them back 😂
FatBloke4@reddit
I'm over 60 and live in the south. I can't remember the last time I saw a Scottish banknote - it was probably when I was in Glasgow, more than 30 years ago. I don't remember ever seeing an NI banknote in the wild. I think a significant reason for this is that most transactions are by card. I can imagine many people in the south might be a bit worried if they saw a Scottish banknote in their change - especially those who weren't born and raised here.
voxdub@reddit
I only accept Scottish notes if they're wearing a sporran and kilt
Plenty-Win-4283@reddit
It’s quite frustrating as for any note it should be accepted no matter the value and no matter which part it comes from, it should be still be accepted, but I do feel a lot of staff who deal with cash are not great at recognising different notes from around the country and it can create awkward situations & confusion lol
highlandcow75@reddit
Once I apologised for paying with Scottish notes.
I was in Scotland at the time.
KennyBoates@reddit
I live in Carlisle, ive never had a Scottish note refused here. While visiting my brother in Preston not one person would take it them.
JCGilbasaurus@reddit
As long as the notes aren't fake, then yes, we accept all British bank notes—had someone pay with a £20 Danske note the other week.
The fakes are kind of easy to spot as well, but you do need to be paying attention and actively looking for them. Had several fake Clydesdale banknotes turn up in our till, which was really annoying.
quasiology@reddit
When I moved from Scotland to England I came with about £400 of 20s (sold a couple of T in the Park tickets to a mate for cash). Using them was a nightmare, after a while I started complaining that they wouldn't take them and was told a few times that Scottish 20s are easy to counterfeit so its company policy not to accept them, this was around 2009. Funnily enough dealers would happily take them.
Thestolenone@reddit
Moving from Somerset to West Yorkshire I noticed they are far more acceptable in the North. I remember getting some cash out in Leeds centre and getting all Scottish notes then realising the bank was the Bank of Scotand. No problem with shops taking them though.
Hookton@reddit
Exactly the same as you: I take them, but my boss makes me take them in my wage haha. It doesn't bother me, it's going in the bank anyway and they don't object to taking them.
kairu99877@reddit
Yes. A note is a note. Can still be exchanged in the bank ofcourse so any owner is a fool to reject it.
Immorals1@reddit
As long as its sterling, I take it no problem.
CautiousCapsLock@reddit
I don’t work in a cash business anymore but we had an RBS cash point right near a pretty remote pizza shop I managed when I was younger and it was filled out with Scottish notes, regularly had lots of Scottish notes around, I lived in NI for a time so would accept them as well as they would be recognised but appreciate other people wouldn’t recognise the notes. The pizza shop was somewhere around 400 miles from the Scottish border also oddly
milkandket@reddit
I’ve only ever seen an Irish note once in my life, was working in a pub and had to ask the boss about it. Have always/will always happily take Scottish ones
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