A Dundee man whose Scottish bank note was refused in Milton Keynes has promised to go to “the very top” to get English businesses to accept Scottish money.
William Mackay became so enraged at constantly having to battle with cashiers south of the border that he wrote to his local MSP Shona Robinson demanding action.
Mr Mackay travels to Milton Keynes every two weeks to visit family and said that stores constantly refuse to accept the currency.
The latest incident happened at the town’s TK Maxx store, where a young cashier took one look at his £10 note and declared she “had never seen foreign money before”.
Alarmed, Mr Mackay explained to her that it was not foreign currency but a Scottish note.
The young cashier then reportedly responded: “Where’s Scotland?”
The store manager was then called, who examined the note by “holding it up to the light” as if it was “a fraud”.
According to Mr Mackay, he was then told it was “company policy” to check if notes are legal and that they would not normally “accept” the note.
Mr Mackay became “angry” and said: “It has gone too far, it’s ridiculous. We are still part of the United Kingdom, so our currency is legal tender.
“I’m a member of the armed forces and I never have any issues when I am overseas and trying to use the money, for example Cyprus.
“The issue with Scottish £10 and £20 notes only ever seems to happen in England.
“I wrote to my MSP Shona Robinson, who said she would write to TK Maxx to ask them to explain their company policy.
“I went to Starbucks straight after, and the exact same thing happened there too.
“I’ll write to the Prime Minister if it keeps happening. I want to get this sorted.”
In her letter to TK Maxx, Ms Robison said: “Not only was this a huge inconvenience it was also an embarrassing experience for my constituent, as the incident took place in front of other customers.
“I would like to request that your business reviews its current policies to ensure it includes the validity of Scottish notes, and that you incorporate the understanding that Scottish notes are legal tender in the UK, into your staff training.”
TK Maxx were asked to comment but had not responded by the time of going to press.Scottish bank notes are not ‘legal tender’ down southThe use of Scottish banknotes south of the border is a common cause ofconfusion and confrontation.
On a purely technical level,however, there is no dubiety as the Bank of England is clear that Scottish and Northern Ireland banknotes are not legal tender in England.
Furthermore, Bank of England notes are not legal tender in Scotland, though your bank ATM may well spit them out.
The term is purely technical, however, and the matter of whether it is an acceptable means of payment is essentially left up to an agreement between the parties involved.
In other words, you will be able to use Scottish banknotes in many places south of the border but anyone who rejects them is legally within their rights to do so.
The notes must, however, be accepted by all banks.