Northern Ireland funny money in the rest of the UK

imme

Does anyone have any experience of being able to spend Northern Ireland 'funny money' in other parts of the UK.

I have some NI sterling and would like to spend it in England or Scotland.

Thanks.

OldMrBrennan83

imme wrote: »

Does anyone have any experience of being able to spend Northern Ireland 'funny money' in other parts of the UK.

I have some NI sterling and would like to spend it in England or Scotland.

Thanks.

I've had better luck in Scotland than England but for the most part you'll be turned down more often than not on the mainland. Can you lodge it and withdraw from a machine that gives BoE notes?

NIMAN

I have seen both sides. Some accept it, others don't. I have had to point out that sterling is written on it to a few people.

Why take the hassle, change it for UK sterling.

JohnnyFlash

It’s ****ing stupid anyway having all the banks print their own notes.

McMurphy

The sterling printed in the north is not actually legal tender in Britain.

TheValeyard

Same as other posters have said. Ive been able to use it in Edinburgh once. But never was accepted in any other part of UK.

Pinch Flat

imme wrote: »

Does anyone have any experience of being able to spend Northern Ireland 'funny money' in other parts of the UK.

I have some NI sterling and would like to spend it in England or Scotland.

Thanks.

Northern Irish and Scottish notes are not legal tender in England and Wales (and vice versa), although coins are. Some places may accept them, but entirely at their discretion.

BrokenArrows

It's all down to whether the staff recognise the notes. If all else fails use the self service machines in Tesco or Sainsbury's. They accept it.

nullzero

I think some people in the UK hear an Irish accent and become difficult about accepting coins and notes from Wales, Scotland and northern Ireland.

I've received all types of sterling as change in England and its only a problem spending it when they hear me speak.

There's still a disrtust of the Irish with some people over there.

KevRossi

I've changed NI money in banks in England before. No issue, if the cashier is in doiubt then get the senior cashier, they usually know.

I always got 1:1, bar a couple of places who took a £2-£5 handling charge.

andekwarhola

It's legal tender but most retail staff won't have a clue what it is, in my experience. Just change it to UK sterling or lodge it to your Visa or Debit account. To be fair, the first time I went to the North, I got a genuine surprise when I saw the different sterling notes from various banks. I was expecting UK sterling and I'm Irish.

citytillidie

Never had an issue with it in Liverpool

Spook_ie

Anyone got pre 2005 Northern Bank notes?

vandriver

andekwarhola wrote: »

It's legal tender but most retail staff won't have a clue what it is, in my experience. Just change it to UK sterling or lodge it to your Visa or Debit account. To be fair, the first time I went to the North, I got a genuine surprise when I saw the different sterling notes from various banks. I was expecting UK sterling and I'm Irish.

NI and Scottish notes aren't even legal tender in their own territories.

andekwarhola

vandriver wrote: »

NI and Scottish notes aren't even legal tender in their own territories.

Probaby legal tender is the wrong phrase if by that you mean retailers are obliged to take it in England. I just meant I've successfully exchanged it before.

road_high

I never got this...I can go to the Greek isles and spend the same euros, you can’t spend the same currency in the so called United Kingdom without drama and hassle. Do they ever look at themselves and how absolutely ridiculous some of their ways are.
Was in a Sainsburys once and the lady had to check with a colleague that they took Belfast sterling, they did. Ok in the bigger shops I think

FTA69

The phrase legal tender means nothing and the vast majority of businesses won’t take it. It’s a pain in the hole, get rid of it or swap it for normal sterling.

Also absolute f*cking state of anyone using the term “mainland”.

cj maxx

Pinch Flat wrote: »

Northern Irish and Scottish notes are not legal tender in England and Wales (and vice versa), although coins are. Some places may accept them, but entirely at their discretion.

I didn’t know that , cheers ,

donegal_man

Never had any problems with NI sterling in Liverpool or Manchester. They're probably more used seeing it with the numbers going across to watch the football.

imme

Thanks to all for the replies.

I didn't know NI bank sterling wasn't legal tender in other parts of UK.

I will try to spend it all the same.

Fann Linn

My daughter was over there last week, Leeds, and the fivers have apparently been changed over the last year or so also and the shops, buses or taxis wouldn't change or take the old notes either.
In the end she just went into a high street bank on the Monday and changed all of her NI and old sterling for 'real' money.

imme

Fann Linn wrote: »

My daughter was over there last week, Leeds, and the fivers have apparently been changed over the last year or so also and the shops, buses or taxis wouldn't change or take the old notes either.
In the end she just went into a high street bank on the Monday and changed all of her NI and old sterling for 'real' money.

The bank of England £5 has changed and now has Winston Churchill on it.
They wouldn't accept the previous£5?

Fann Linn

imme wrote: »

The bank of England £5 has changed and now has Winston Churchill on it.
They wouldn't accept the previous£5?

Nope. That's what she said. Landed in Leeds on a Sunday morning, and various services and shops wouldn't take her NI or old stg. Her pal lent her money and she changed everything then the next day in a bank.

OldMrBrennan83

Yeah it's a good while since the old fivers went. They changed the £1 coin too.

imme

Fann Linn wrote: »

Nope. That's what she said. Landed in Leeds on a Sunday morning, and various services and shops wouldn't take her NI or old stg. Her pal lent her money and she changed everything then the next day in a bank.

There is a time for everything under heaven.
There was probably a cut off date for accepting the old Fiver.

Vic_08

imme wrote: »

There is a time for everything under heaven.
There was probably a cut off date for accepting the old Fiver.

May 2017 was the withdrawal date for the paper £5, March 2018 for the £10.

Polymer £20 will be introduced next year and £50 after that.

Although plenty of shops won't take £50s as well as "foreign" Sterling.

Scottish and NI banks are switching to polymer notes of the same size as BoE notes so there should be less trouble spending them although never underestimate the ignorance of the English.

Spook_ie

Vic_08 wrote: »

May 2017 was the withdrawal date for the paper £5, March 2018 for the £10.

Polymer £20 will be introduced next year and £50 after that.

Although plenty of shops won't take £50s as well as "foreign" Sterling.

Scottish and NI banks are switching to polymer notes of the same size as BoE notes so there should be less trouble spending them although never underestimate the ignorance of the English.

To be fair, unless you know the attributes of the notes regarding forgery like raised print sections, watermarks, UV markings etc. you would likely not accept them either. I certainly wouldn't.

Snow Garden

Thinly veiled 'I stole an ATM using a JCB and I am on the run in England' thread

Esel

Spook_ie wrote: »

Anyone got pre 2005 Northern Bank notes?

Ask Gerry, garda.

road_high

Their withdrawal dates are ridiculously narrow too...here when Notes and indeed currency changed the old ones remained legal tender for ages. I’ve a load of older English pounds coins left, not sure what I can do with them?
They have a very strange and old fashioned approach to cash and currency

Vic_08

Spook_ie wrote: »

To be fair, unless you know the attributes of the notes regarding forgery like raised print sections, watermarks, UV markings etc. you would likely not accept them either. I certainly wouldn't.

They are notes issued and legal in their own country, we are not talking about expecting people to accept money from some far-flung place they have never heard of, even if that is the attitude many English have towards NI.

As it happens I did accept them regularly, mostly NI and English but some Scottish and even a Channel Islands note once, no really issue at all and never had a forgery problem.

The fear of fakes is the most often quoted reason for not accepting Scottish notes in England although I am sceptical it is anything more than apocryphal that Scottish notes are more likely to be forged.

This shouldn't be an issue with the Polymer notes as they are more similar to each other and are extremely difficult to forge.

Abel Ruiz

When I was in london, Northern Irish sterling works perfectly in the checkout machines in tesco.
Couldn't use it anywhere else

timthumbni

A few years back none of the shops around my way in Norn Iron would accept Bank of England notes. Not for any legal tender issue but the fact that so many of them were counterfeit.

I have had success in England and Scotland with them but it’s not worth the hassle. Just get them swapped for Bank of England.

road_high

Think it mainly lot revolves around the English and their never ending paranoia of all things “foreign”. Which is what they view Scotland and Ireland as

timthumbni

road_high wrote: »

Think it mainly lot revolves around the English and their never ending paranoia of all things “foreign”. Which is what they view Scotland and Ireland as

And so what is the excuse for Scotland and Wales not taking Norn Iron notes then?

Atlantic Dawn

If you are in any of the UK 'sectors', can you legally refuse to accept change in anything other than proper English sterling and not alternative Mickey Mouse money?

Vic_08

Atlantic Dawn wrote: »

If you are in any of the UK 'sectors', can you legally refuse to accept change in anything other than proper English sterling and not alternative Mickey Mouse money?

For a pending transaction yes, you can refuse change in a format you don't like and the vendor can cancel the sale.

If it for an un-refundable purchase (food already eaten, pumped fuel,etc) then it may actually be a situation where the term "legal tender" actually has a meaning.

janfebmar

If retail staff in England are not used to N. Irish or Scottish notes, I can see a higher risk of them being fooled by a counterfeit eg Ulster Bank or B of Ireland or whatever sterling note. Easier for them just to deal with one type of note.

Here I saw a dud 50 euro note once, very convincing it was. Hard to blame someone else for being suspicious about notes they are not familiar with. Especially when they probably cannot differentiate an Irish traveller accent from an Irish accent.

Capt'n Midnight

JohnnyFlash wrote: »

It’s ****ing stupid anyway having all the banks print their own notes.

Only one of the four banks doing that is UK owned.

Bank of Ireland and First Trust are Irish banks. Danske is Danish.

awec

road_high wrote: »

Think it mainly lot revolves around the English and their never ending paranoia of all things “foreign”. Which is what they view Scotland and Ireland as

It's not paranoia, just a lot of English people will have never seen a NI note.

It would be the same here if someone turned up with a blue 50 euro note that looked totally different and they said it was from some French bank.

awec

If you're in NI and you want to ensure you get Bank of England notes then use a Halifax or non-bank ATM.

timthumbni

awec wrote: »

If you're in NI and you want to ensure you get Bank of England notes then use a Halifax or non-bank ATM.

Very few Halifax about now. By non bank do you mean the ones in bars, shops the wee private machines that might charge you 1.50?

awec

timthumbni wrote: »

Very few Halifax about now. By non bank do you mean the ones in bars, shops the wee private machines that might charge you 1.50?

Yea the ones that often cost a few quid, but I am pretty sure they always give you English money.

There are some proper ATMs that aren't run by specific banks too.

It seems to be a pretty crap currency alright. I remember some years back some poor man was arrested by AGS in the wilds of Cork (yes, apologies for the tautology) just burning loads of NI notes as he couldn't get rid of them for love nor money...

hardCopy

road_high wrote: »

Their withdrawal dates are ridiculously narrow too...here when Notes and indeed currency changed the old ones remained legal tender for ages. I’ve a load of older English pounds coins left, not sure what I can do with them?
They have a very strange and old fashioned approach to cash and currency

Our dual circulation times are ridiculously long. Any retailer will tell you they stopped getting old €5/10/20 notes within a couple of weeks of the new Euro notes being introduced.

Continuing to accept the old notes means you quickly get to the point where junior retail staff aren't accustomed to handling the old notes and susceptible to accepting forgeries.

Atlantic Dawn

Is there any other first world country on the face of the earth with similar issues?

janfebmar

Deleted User wrote: »

It seems to be a pretty crap currency alright. I remember some years back some poor man was arrested by AGS in the wilds of Cork (yes, apologies for the tautology) just burning loads of NI notes as he couldn't get rid of them for love nor money...

I remember that, in about 2005, Garda Commissioner Noel Conroy told a major North-South police seminar in Dublin that money recovered in Co Cork was part of the proceeds of the Northern Bank robbery in Belfast.

hardCopy

janfebmar wrote: »

If retail staff in England are not used to N. Irish or Scottish notes, I can see a higher risk of them being fooled by a counterfeit eg Ulster Bank or B of Ireland or whatever sterling note. Easier for them just to deal with one type of note.

Here I saw a dud 50 euro note once, very convincing it was. Hard to blame someone else for being suspicious about notes they are not familiar with. Especially when they probably cannot differentiate an Irish traveller accent from an Irish accent.

My experience has been that cashiers reject the BoI notes as Irish Punts and Northern Bank notes as Australian Dollars.

I've been able to exchange them in English airports for BoE notes at no charge.

Spook_ie

[Deleted User] wrote: »

It seems to be a pretty crap currency alright. I remember some years back some poor man was arrested by AGS in the wilds of Cork (yes, apologies for the tautology) just burning loads of NI notes as he couldn't get rid of them for love nor money...

There's a guy offering 75p in the pound

https://www.leftovercurrency.com/exchange/northern-irish-pounds/withdrawn-northern-bank-banknotes/

hardCopy

Atlantic Dawn wrote: »

Is there any other first world country on the face of the earth with similar issues?

Scotland is the same. Different US states have their own issuing reserve banks.

Billy86

I'd never heard of this before, is there a legitimate reason for it or is it just a but if a needless slap in the face for people from the north? Does the same apply to Scottish or Welsh tender, or English in the rest of the UK?

I don't see how it's different to American states deciding not to take notes from Texas or California, or Canadians from Quebec, on the face of it.