English shop assistant asks ‘Where’s Scotland?’ when customer tries to pay with Scottish banknote

Tanveer Mann

(Picture: Simon Dawson/Bloomberg via Getty)

A Scottish man who regularly travels to England was shocked when a shop assistant in Milton Keynes refused to accept his Scottish banknote.
He was even asked: ‘Where’s Scotland?’
William Mackay had been at the TK Maxx store in Milton Keynes when a shop assistant allegedly refused to accept the Scottish currency and said she’d ‘never seen foreign money before’.
According to Mr Mackay, a store manager was called and he examined the currency by ‘holding it up to the light’ as if it was ‘a fraud’.

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 said: ‘It has gone too far, it’s ridiculous. We are still part of the United Kingdom, so our currency is legal tender.

The incident occurred at TK Maxx in Milton Keynes Shopping Centre (Picture: View Pictures/UIG via Getty)

‘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.
Mr Mackay has now threatened to take his fight to the Prime Minister, to force businesses south of the border into accepting Scottish money.

So far, he has written to his local MSP Shona Robinson demanding action.
In a letter to TK Maxx, Ms Robinson 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.

Currently, it is up to the parties involved to decide whether to accept Scotland and Northern Ireland banknotes as payment in England (Picture: Getty)

‘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.’
At the moment, Scottish and Northern Ireland banknotes are not legal tender in England but it is up to the parties involved to decide whether to accept them as a means of payment.
Yet all banks south of the border are legally obliged to accept them.

Similarly Bank of England notes are not considered legal tender in Scotland despite the fact that most shops will accept them.
A TK Maxx spokesperson told Metro.co.uk: ‘At TK Maxx, our standard practice is to accept Scottish bank notes as legal tender in our U.K. stores.
‘We regret that this practice may not have been followed in this instance. We are working with our stores to refresh awareness regarding this practice.’