Is it legal for a shop in England to refuse a genuine note from a Northern Irish bank?

Answer 1

it is legal to refuse yes! NI notes are not legal tender in England, the best thing to do is pop into a bank and get them to change it for you. Its a pain in the backside I know, last time I went over to london I just lifted my money from a cash point over there so as all my money was in english bank notes, at least if you lift too much you can spend the notes back in NI with no hassle

Answer 2

I used to manage a pub and we had this problem a lot.

it was the companies policy not to accept scottish or northern irish notes.

The reason was because in england we dont see them as much and there a quite a few different notes from scotland so it is easy to pass off fakes.

the scottish notes also have different security measures like no metal strips so if you dont know what you are looking for the fakes are hard to spot. (they probably wont have another note in the till to compare like with an english note.)

if you see the notes all the time it isnt a problem but if it was the first time you had seen an english £10 you woudnt know whether it was fake or not.

unfortunately there are groups out there who take advantage of this and use fake scottish or irish money.

Answer 3

On 20 December 2004 the cash centre at the Northern bank headquarters in Belfast was raided, and £26.5 million stolen. Most of this consisted of uncirculated Northern Bank notes, as well as millions in used notes. If I was a shopkeeper, and had read this, I would certainly refuse, legal or not!

Answer 4

It has been a problem for the Northern Irish for a long time.
Nowadays it's mostly the "foreigners" that try to use them outside, the locals all know better.
I was flabbergasted when I first found out (the hard way) and couldn't believe that their bank notes are not legal tender even in their own place.

Answer 5

Yes, only bank of England notes are legal tender, Scottish notes are not legal tender either but it's just rude not to accept them. At the end of the working day, banks count up the value of english notes they have and have to pay a fee to the Bank of England, this fee does not apply to Scottish or NI notes, this is why in Scotland if you withdraw money late in the day, they try to palm you off with English notes!

Answer 6

Very Illegal just the same as them refusing to accept Scottish Bank notes. The notes say sterling, and are legal tender.
Oh and by the way, Scottish notes DO have security strips.....

Bank of Scotland notes traditionally have the words I promise to pay the bearer on demand the sum of.......... sterling

These so called "promisary notes", go back way further than the Bank of England, and came about in order that the "English" lairds, could easily get more than their pennies worth from their scottish tenants.......

Answer 7

No it is not legal for them to refuse it if it is poinds sterling. However you will find that the English do not like to take notes from Northern Irish or Scottish banks as they believe they could be fake. More training is required in these places for them to recognise what is money!

Answer 8

What a Joke!!
I don't know about the legality of this matter but we are always told that Northern Ireland is part of the UK even though I don't agree with this so if this is the case how can we possibly not accept these notes!!!!!!
Someone suggested because we think they could possibly be fake-What is this because they are Irish???
Fake bank notes don't exist in the UK??????????????????????

Answer 9

Its not illegal its discretionary, Southern Britain and Scotland is the worst, Manchester and Liverpool are best for accepting NI money. Try explaining it is sterling just like the Bank of England notes. But accept that shop keepers can refuse if they want, its their loss after all, shop somewhere else.

Answer 10

This question comes up from time to time. I am reliably informed that Northern Irish, Scottish and Channel Islands notes are not legal tender in England, but that all banks accept them at par.

So do smart shopkeepers, if they know they are genuine and/or have recourse against the person offering them.

Addendum: apparently Scottish, Northern Irish, etc. bank notes aren't even "legal tender" in Scotland and Northern Ireland, respectively. See: http://www.siliconglen.com/Scotland/1_7.html

But of course everybody accepts them there. Who's going to carry around all those one-pound and two-pound coins?

"Scottish bank notes are not legal tender in Scotland. English bank notes of denomination less than 5UKP were legal tender in Scotland under Currency and Bank Notes Act 1954. Now, with the removal of BoE 1UKP notes, only coins constitute legal tender in Scotland. English bank notes are only legal tender in England, Wales, The Channel Islands and the Isle of Man. In Scotland, 1 pound coins are legal tender to any amount, 20ps and 50ps are legal tender up to 10 pounds; 10p and 5ps to 5 pounds and 2p and 1p coins are legal tender to 20p (separately or in combination). 2 pounds coins and (if you can get hold of one) 5 pound coins are also legal tender to unlimited amounts, as are gold coins of the realm at face value (in Scotland at least)."