Scotland/London Pounds?

We were in Scotland last year and raised the same question. I found out that Scottish pounds are legal tender in England too, but like Steve says, apparently some small British merchants don't like to accept them.

Maybe one of our UK posters could shed some additional light.

As Steve and Tom said, you may find some merchants in England that don't want to take the Scottish notes. As I understand it, it's less hassle the closer to the borders you are and the further you get from Scotland the greater the chances that they will be rejected.

When I went to Scotland last year I had a few Bank of England notes with me at start, those spent fine in Scotland - no issues whatsoever. I then started to get Scottish notes from the ATM and as change and once I got to London I still had a few of these. I didn't encounter any issue spending the few I had in London (some in a cab and at breakfast one day), but your mileage may vary.

Your best bet is to probably try to use up most of the Scottish bank notes before you head south just to avoid any hassles.

If you want more info on the ins and outs of the situation you may want to Google it. It's kind of interesting in that the Scottish notes are not even technically legal tender in Scotland (only the coins, which are same in England and Scotland are true legal tender). But the law allows leeway and gets around the issue.

You may even, for fun, decide to keep some of the Scottish notes as a souvenir as the 3 banks (RBOS, Bank of Scotland and Clydesdale) all have their own notes, with different art on them.

Scottish pound notes aren't even legal tender in Scotland. (But that's perfectly fine 'cos 'legal tender' doesn't mean what you think it does...)

People tend to think legal tender means "money shops must accept" or "real money" but it has a much more limited definition related to cancellation of court ordered debts and does not feature at the cash register (in fact I'm pretty sure Scots law doesn't have the concept of legal tender at all.)

Some Scottish (nd Northern Irish) banks have the right to issue notes denominated in pound sterling which have the legal staus of "Promissary Notes" and must be backed one-for-one by Bank of England notes at head office. This system is a historical oddity and probably hinders the Scots more than anyone but it would be political poisen for any govt. to change as it would get the Scots. Nats. whipped up into a massive anti-English frenzy (more than usual at least.)

Long story short: Scotish notes are perfectly valid in the rest of the UK, they represent the "same money," shops don't have to accept them*, most do, some don't and finally they are notoriouslt difficult to change at ForEx counters abroad.

Shops aren't required to accept any particualr currency, Bank of Enlgand notes included, although it would be stupid not to.

Shall I stir the pot by asking about Northern Ireland notes . If any one has a problem with ether currency i will for fee solve it for you!!!

NI Sterling and Scottish sterling aren't really accepted in England. Some merchants will take them begrudgingly. You can exchange them at the airport or at most currency outlets for English notes however.

'Queens Head' (English Pounds) notes are accepted all over.

The banks in Northern Ireland and Scotland (there are 7) that issue currency are all authorized and regulated by the Bank of England and their currency is legal throughout the U.K.

Whether an individual merchant accepts them for payment or not is up to them.

On a slightly related topic, make sure not to get stuck with any of the old "Elgar" £20 Bank of England notes.

They have been in full circulation until recently, but are withdrawn from the end of June 2010. If you are not careful after that you may find you have expensive souvenirs which will not be accepted by any stores, only some banks.

Because Scottish money is very rare south of the border areas it is hard to examine for counterfeit - we just don't see it. I work for a large company where we do take it, but grudgingly. Its hard on the cash room too as they have to keep it separate and not give it out.

Tagging on to this thread, I have a slightly different question. I'm to be on a cruise that stops in Guernsey, N. Ireland and mostly Scotland. I understand all three use different pound currency. I'll be getting some money prior to leaving US. What currency should I get and is the conversion rate to USD the same for all three?

thanx
Duane

Duane, all you need are British Pounds. They are accepted in all three places.

Just last week, leaving Seattle (at the airport, prior to getting on a plane to Glasgow) I took out £300 from an automatic teller machine. The notes were in £20 denominations, and they went over just fine when I got to Glasgow, and then Edinburgh. I do not know if the same would have been true in London, if I had purchased Scottish pounds while in Scotland, but I used them for everything from cab fare to food to buying museum tickets. I love automatic teller machines at airports. It made my first few hours in Glasgow go smoothly, since I could give the cabbie money he recognized.

Perhaps those from the UK will be help with this, but can you step into a bank and ask them to trade Scottish notes for British ones once you are out of Scotland in order to avoid any potential problems? I believe I read that suggestion in a guidebook, but it was in reference to NI pounds. Perhaps Scottish notes are less of a problem in other places?

Someone please correct me if I'm wrong, but here is how i understand all this:

1. A few banks in Scotland, for historic and political reason, have the right to issue pound notes. Strictly speaking, you can use them anywhere in the UK, but merchants often are not used to them and won't accept them. If you are obnoxious and want to bring in a lawyer, you could probably win.

2.Standard UK currency is, obviously, readily accepted everywhere in the UK.

jc - that's correct

Thanks, Phillip. I'll be in Edinburgh this fall. If the ATM's spit out nothing but Scottish notes, I intend to spend them all before I leave. Shouldn't be that difficult.

To add some trivia to Peter's post - ie that the Scottish (and NI) banks have to hold an equivalent amount of Bank of England pounds to back their issued notes. It is held as notes of one million and one hundred million denominations and they are not for general circulation.

We were in London just for a day (day trip from Edinburgh) and we went to a small chinese restaurant and the waitress wouldn't accept our Scottish money. (Or was in Northern Irish money?) Anyway, we ended up paying with our credit card. She said that the manager wasn't there and she wasn't sure if she was allowed or not. We found it all very odd, but luckily had a credit card so it was okay...

We will be in Scotland with our supply of British pound notes. If we use (say) a £50 note and get change I'm guessing we will be given Scottish pound notes (plus coins) as the change. We cannot 'refuse' the notes and ask for Sterling notes, right?

Hmmm, looks like we may need to use the credit card more for our expenses next week. Or find a different plan so that we don't end up with problematic notes at the end of the week.

I'd like to hear from someone who has been in the situation of being in England with nothing but Scottish currency and no credit cards. What does a clerk or a merchant do when confronted with the option of excepting Scottish currency or not selling anything?

Do Scots change their notes at a bank every time they venture into England?

Many people in the U.S. would balk at accepting a $2 note, although it is perfectly legal and acceptable, as is a Sacagawea dollar coin.

I am so confused! I want to be able to take some currency when we leave so that we have some foe the drivers ect..So I still don't know what to order from the bank. Should I just ask for British Pounds?

Thanks
Bev

Since the British Pounds can be used in England and Scotland, I would go with the Great Britain Pounds. If you need extra money while in Scotland, get some Scottish pounds at the ATM for use there.

Bev,

Make it simple.

Get nothing ahead of time. Money machines are everywhere, literally.

Get whatever comes out of the ATM where you first arrive.

If it's Scotland, plan ahead on how much you get out at other times so you'll use them up. (Assuming that what spits out is Scots notes -- it might not be or it might be a mixture.)

If it's England, when you get more in Scotland later, use the same logic as above.

Hi
Sorry you've had this problem :o(
I have this problem very frequently as I've lived in Scotland/London for decades. If you're VERY assertive and sound like you know what you're taking about (you'll need a UK accent unfortunately) you'll get round this - even then, prepare to argue!
For practical purposes Peter from Manchester is correct. Legal tender is the problematic term. The notes are ALL legal anywhere in the UK. The all relate to the price of gold.
Just get them changed in a bank to avoid probs.
London taxi cab drivers are the worst ...
s

We used an ATM at a Barclays today in Edinburgh (mainly because they are the BofA Globial Alliance partner bank). I was very happy when the notes from the ATM were all British pound notes. And since they were small notes (10s and 20s) we're hoping that we will get (mostly) coins as change.

Bev, you will NOT get Scittish notes in Florida, only Bank of England ones. They are used all over the UK (England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland). If you have pounds left over that you want to exchange in USA on your return, make sure they are Bank of England. IF your bank accepts Scottish notes, which they probably will not, they will send them out for collection and charge you for the service as well as making you wait till they get the funds. Scotland is one of the few countries where the notes are issued by private banks, (the Bank of Scotland is like any other bank, not a central bank) as a result banks outside of the country are suspicious of them. As you have been told, technically Scottish notes are acceptable throughout the UK, but are often rejected by stores and services in England.

Iain wrote: "Scotland is one of the few countries where the notes are issued by private banks"

Today I got a 5£ note in change (from the Edinburgh TI) that reads "Clydesdale Bank" -- if I had not been following this thread I would have done a double-take ... maybe even fretted over whether it was actually a valid note.