Who actually decides whether or not Scottish notes are acceptable????
I once travelled from Scotland to Kent and would you believe had a �2 coin refused!!!! We all know the legal position but what about some common sense?
Aren`t we all British?
I also had this problem with Scottish notes in the West Midlands, the law says it is perfectly acceptable to spend scottish notes in England, but it just shows the standards how well shop keepers know how to do their job, their loss.
"This briefing paper addresses the question of whether Scottish banknotes
are legal tender in the rest of the UK. The briefing looks at the meaning of
the term legal tender and the effect this has on Scottish banknotes. It
briefly addresses the history of the printing of Scottish banknotes and
details the legal, legislative and financial basis for their existence.It
concludes that, although they are not legal tender, even in Scotland, they
remain a valid form of monetary exchange as promissory notes backed by the
issuing banks holdings"
http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/business/whisp-03/wh006-08 .htm
Scots noted are not legal tender in England, ie there is no law that says they MUST be taken. However, most retailers accept them at their discretion, safe in the knowledge that banks will also do so. Most big companies are OK about this, though as some people are not familiar with Scots money south of the border, there is the increased suspicion that it might be fake. Some shopkeeprs don't want to take that chance.
There's a sign, in the pub near to me, saying that there are some forged Scottish notes (can't remember denomination) going round, so they won't take them, for that reason.
Fair comment about the slim possibility of fakes. There does seem to be a bit of an issue over �20 notes in some areas, but to balance the arguement up there are horrendous problems regarding the number of �1 COINS on the go at the moment.