Apparently some Polish money exchangers refuse Scottish bank notes. Sometimes. Or maybe not, but they may offer differing rates for Scottish notes compared to Bank of England notes. Sometimes. Or maybe sometimes they just offer the same rate and there’s no issue, in which case nobody makes a mental note of this non-event.
Another rallying cry for Scottish independence, naturally.
Anyone living in Scotland will have talks of refusal to accept Scottish notes. It is quite legal for them to be refused which is why most of us note which machines issue English notes in our area if we are grovelling. I always withdraw £100 English each time I head further south than Carlisle.
No, you withdraw £100 British. The notes are issued by the central bank of the United Kingdom and are legal currency anywhere within the United Kingdom. That a few private businesses in Scotland chose to hold on to the right to issue promissory notes of their own design doesn’t change what Bank of England notes are, nor does it make those notes, issued by private businesses, the currency of Scotland, which is apparently what you believed until it was pointed out.
Bank of England, RBS BOS and Clydesdale are all sterling , but BofE notes are English and the others are Scottish. Same for the Irish banks, they are NI notes.
It’s also worth pointing out that “legal tender” is a narrow, technical legal term that has little bearing on whether a particular note can be used as currency:
As far as I know, no creditor has ever sued for non-payment of a debt after being paid in Scottish, or Northern Irish, or Manx pounds. I can’t imagine anyone who tried would succeed at anything but being laughed out of court.
You are being disingenuous again. No notes are legal tender in Scotland. Also, Bank of England notes aren’t only legal tender in England, but in another country in the Union as well. So your argument that they are English notes because they are only valid in England is false.
Read your cite carefully. Think carefully about your error.
“In fact, no banknote whatsoever (including Bank of England notes!) qualifies for the term ‘legal tender’ north of the border and the Scottish economy seems to manage without that legal protection.”
Notes issued in England are generally referred to as English notes, and Scottish and NI notes are known by their national names. Simple. Over ninety per cent of notes in Scotland and NI are their own notes.
pjen is actually technically correct, although as usual is obfuscating the issue. Sterling coins are legal tender in the whole of the UK. Bank of England notes are legal tender in the majority of the UK, excepting Scotland and Northern Ireland.
They are generally, and correctly, referred to as British notes, on the rare occasion that their origin need be referred to. That a couple of small regions refer to them otherwise doesn’t change that generality.
One would hope that 100% of notes circulating in any part of Britain are their own… Or have you forgotten, Scotland is part of Britain, and BoE notes are just as much theirs as they are, for example, Welsh.
You misunderstand the concept of legal tender. Legal tender merely applies to that money that MUST be accepted by a seller to complete a contract, not what must be OFFERED by the buyer. A buyer may offer to settle the debt in any way, notes, coin, chequers, direct debit, pigs or shells, but that is part of a contract. Any contract is NECESSARILY met when paid in legal tender, but the debt may be settled by agreement.