Mad Doug Biker said:
Scottish notes in England are bad enough as it is!
I can't quite understand why these places do not get a booklet supplied to them with pictures of all of the different notes they can accept on them so that people actually KNOW what they look like!!
That'd be too sensible though I suppose.
Having worked in a fair few shops in my time in Southern England, they do receive a little booklet and many a poster. The problem is that, especially with Saturday staff, they may see one purchase with Scottish notes in six months and with the sheer variety of Scottish banknotes (Bank of Scotland, Royal Bank of Scotland, Clydesdale Bank) not to mention Northern Ireland and Channel Islands notes even with the little booklet telling a good forgery isn't THAT easy.
And believe me, many a forgery will use this fact to their advantage. It becomes less time consuming, safer and easier to get staff to request customers change their notes at a nearby bank where they will recognise the notes and be trained to spot forgeries.
Scottish banknotes are much like credit cards in England, in that they are not "legal tender" as many people assume and do not HAVE to be accepted to pay a debt. The same is true of English notes in Scotland (and, as it happens, Scottish notes in Scotland too). They ARE legal currency, and so hold a value and so can be accepted for a purchase but they don't have to be.
Bear in mind that even in deepest darkest Hampshire even Bank of England notes can be turned down when buying your weekly Pint, as legal tender only has sway against debts, not purchases. And this isn't a one way street either - I've had English banknotes turned away in Scotland too for no more than a reason than "it was made by an English b'stard".
As you can tell this is something which annoys me slightly.
. A quick telephone complaint resulted in thrity quid in vouchers from the supermarket in question. She was trying to buy alcohol as it was my birthday.
