Scottish Pounds

I hear that there are 3 different Scottish pound notes produced by the 3 main banks! I like the Scotch distillery printed on the 5(?) pound note, can you imagine the screams if Canada or the USA promoted drinking on our currency!

Good warning, Thomas. There was a discussion on this a few weeks ago. Technically, Scottish notes are not legal tender - they are merely promissary notes from ethe banks that issue them - but they are accepted as currency everywhere in Scotland and often in England. Scotland is one of the very few countries where banks issue their own notes. Bringing them back to NA will cause no end of grief in trying to convert them. The bank may, reluctantly, send them out for collection and charge you the cost, often more than the notes are worth, and make you wait for the payment.

While travelling in Scotland once I was told/warned that Scottish pounds would be harder to spend the further south I went. Apparently, in southern England (not sure if London counted in this gentleman's comment) either Scottish notes are looked upon suspiciously as counterfeit, or not accepted at all.

I was also told, that banks in each of these countries (England, Scotland, Wales, N. Ireland, and the Isle of Man) all print their own countries notes and those notes are accepted at the descretion of each of the other countries. For example, he said that he would not be able to accept pound notes from the Isle of Man. As a result, I make sure that when I visit these countries, I make it a point to spend any pound notes from that country IN that country. I'm quite certain that this applies to the notes and not the coins though. :)

I received Scottish pounds as change at a restraunt at Heathrow. When the gentleman gave it to me, I had to question him since it was a wrinkled into a balled mess and torn. He told me that it would spend like British pounds and accepted everywhere. I guess he was just trying to get rid of it and pass it off to someone else. Oh, well, my son decided to keep it as a souvenir.

I just went to look at some of my currency and see if I had any leftover pounds from Northern Ireland. I assumed, what with the black cabs etc, that they would be GBP but didn't find any. I did find a 5 pound note from the Falkland Islands. It is issued by the Government of the Falkland Islands and has a picture of the queen and some penguins. Don't remember if I had any left from that trip that I tried to use elsewhere...so I don't know if they would work in England.

As noted above, both Scotland and Northern Ireland issue their own currency denominated in pounds sterling. Many places in England will accept Scottish notes, but some places are reluctant as they find it harder to spot fakes of notes they're not used to seeing. NI notes can be harder to spend. If you find yourself stuck with either you can try a Post Office (ask them to change the note, or buy a low-value stamp with the note and get the change).

(They're not legal tender but the concept of "legal tender" only applies to the payment of a debt - the creditor must accept legal tender as payment. In other cases - such as buying things in a shop or buying foreign currency - there is basically no legal compulsion for the seller to accept anything they don't want to.)

Wow - I'm surprised at this.

If in doubt, I'm sure you could call in at any UK bank and they will exchange your Scottish note for an English one.

Any bank should be able to change them for customers - not sure about non-customers, though. (Which was why I suggested the Post Office.)

Of course, if you're in London you could always go to the Bank of England in person :-)

In Italy, before the Euro, due to the government not printing enough money or minting enough coinage, they often had a shortage of small Lira notes, so it was hard to get change. Several Italian banks would issue small promissory notes to make up for the shortage. So, this is not an uncommon practice.

If anyone has any leftover Scottish notes just post them off to me and I will get rid of them for you. LOL