Going to Scotland; have question about the currency, Inverness, etc.?

Question

Does Scotland have its own currency? Is it valued the same and interchangeable with English currency? Are both accepted in any UK country?
We may have to wait several hours at Inverness airport upon arrival. Is there any place to store luggage? What activities would you recommend to pass the time besides reading a book or doing a crossword puzzle? Any interesting sightseeing a short cab ride away?

Answer 1

"Does Scotland have its own currency?"

England and Wales uses banknotes issued by the Bank of England and these are in £5, £10, £20 and £50 denominations.

Bank of England notes are accepted throughout Scotland but the laws in Scotland allow any bank to issue their own banknotes. Three of the banks do this...

The Royal Bank of Scotland issued notes in £1, £5, £10, £20 and £100 denominations and both the Bank of Scotland and Clydesdale Bank issue notes in £5, £10, £20, £50 and £100 denominations.

The coins that are in circulation are the same throughout the whole of the UK - 1p, 2p, 5p, 10p, 20p, 50p and £1.00 coins.

Clydesdale Banknotes: http://www.scotbanks.org.uk/current_clydesdale.htm
RBS Banknotes: http://www.scotbanks.org.uk/current_rbos.htm
B of S Banknotes: http://www.scotbanks.org.uk/current_bos.htm

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"Is it valued the same and interchangeable with English currency?"

It is valued exactly the same and it is interchangeable with English currency. You could buy something in Scotland for say £40.00 and pay for it using 4 different £10 notes (Bank of England, Royal Bank of Scotland, Bank of Scotland and Clydesdale).

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"Are both accepted in any UK country?"

Yes and No. It's a strange system we have over here. Bank of England banknotes are legal tender and have to be redeemed on demand (they all say on them something like 'I promise to pay the bearer on demand the sum of...'). Scottish banknotes are not legal tender and a person can refuse to accept them as payment. In practice this doesn't happen in Scotland where everyone is familiar with all the different banknotes in circulation and will readily accept them as payment. In England some people may refuse to accept Scottish banknotes.

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"We may have to wait several hours at Inverness airport upon arrival. Is there any place to store luggage?"

I can't say for certain but I'm pretty sure there will be - it's standard at more or less every airport, rail station, coach station etc.

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"What activities would you recommend to pass the time besides reading a book or doing a crossword puzzle? Any interesting sightseeing a short cab ride away?"

Not a great deal - Inverness airport http://www.hial.co.uk/inverness-airport.html is sort of in the middle of nowhere. It's almost next to the coast and there are some pleasamt beaches you could wander along. The nearest town is Ardersier http://www.btinternet.com/~ardersier/index.html which is about 4 miles / 6 km away - there's shops, pubs (bars), places to eat etc. A local attraction here is Cromwell's Mount (or Cromal Mount) which is a 50 meter / 150 foot high mount with the remains of an old fort on it and expansive views in all directions, well worth going up if the weather is nice.

A couple of miles further round the coast is Fort George, probably the main attraction in the area http://www.scotland-index.co.uk/Inverness-shire/ardersier/fortgeorge.htm.

Inverness http://www.inverness-scotland.com/ itself is about 10 or 12 miles from the airport and in my opinion is one of the disappointments of the Scottish Highlands.

Other possible places to visit if you have a few hours are Kilavrock Castle http://www.kilravockcastle.com/ Culloden Battlefield http://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/inverness/culloden/ and Clava Cairns http://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/inverness/clavacairns/index.html

These sites may give you some ideas for places to visit whilst in Scotland and the Highland Region...
http://www.visithighlands.com/
http://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/index.html
http://www.visitscotland.com/
http://www.scotland.com/

Answer 2

Scotland and England each have their own banknotes (in American English - 'Bills'), but both are the same currency with the same value and both are accepted in each country (Scottish notes are not officially legal tender in England, but they are accepted in almost all major stores anyway). Coins are the same.

Inverness and it's airport are both very close to Loch Ness. It's only a small airport but there will probably be somewhere to store your luggage.

Answer 3

Scotland has the same currency as England.

Answer 4

Scotland is not in England - they are two separate countries that are both part of the UK!

Answer 5

They use the pounds sterling.

If you have enough time, visit Fort William, and Loch Ness is close by.

Answer 6

4, The education system is pretty good and it has taught me that you don't learn anything by getting someone else to do your homework for you.

Answer 7

SCOTLAND WOULD BE IN ENGLAND SO WOULDNT IT HAVE THE SAME CURRENCY?