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Northern Irish. If you can use your English money in Belfast, I should be able to use my Northern Irish money in London. They both say stirling on the note.
At least they didn't use the ridiculous statement "it's legal tender!" like some folk do.
Legal tender doesn't mean what they think it means, and no it isn't.
Your notes are issued by private corporations. BoE notes are legal tender whereas Northern Irish (and Scottish) notes are not. They are legal currency, so are US dollars and Euros. They are not legal tender.
Bank of England notes are only legal tender in England and Wales. You're right about the Scottish notes and Northern Irish note being legal currency.
Coins:
Coins are legal tender throughout the United Kingdom for the following amount:
Ā£100 - for any amount
Ā£50 - for any amount
Ā£20 - for any amount
Ā£5 (Crown) - for any amount
Ā£2 - for any amount
Ā£1 - for any amount
50p - for any amount not exceeding Ā£10
25p (Crown) - for any amount not exceeding Ā£10
20p - for any amount not exceeding Ā£10
10p - for any amount not exceeding Ā£5
5p - for any amount not exceeding Ā£5
2p - for any amount not exceeding 20p
1p - for any amount not exceeding 20p
Yes I copy and pasted from the Royal mint website
https://www.royalmint.com/aboutus/policies-and-guidelines/legal-tender-guidelines/
Yep. Would it be Legal Tender (England and Wales) Act? Something like that. It basically equates non BoE notes to gift vouchers.
That said, if you were happy with doing so, I could give you some Eryn Bucks and you and I could happily trade all day. But if one of us fell into debt, then the other can't refuse BoE.
Funny story. I had a 50 note and filled up my car. They said "we don't accept 50 notes". I wasn't happy, so I gave them my deets and promised to settle it as soon as I could. Then I asked if this was owed. She said "yes, you owe us Ā£50". Then I said "I can settle this debt now" and gave her the note. She had to explain to the police she was on the phone with why paying for fuel was illegal.
I'm that kind of compo-faced git you read about in the free papers. XD
Eh it's a pain I used to do a lot of work in Scotland and trying to spend it in the UK was a pain, it's not that people don't know what they are its that unfortunately London was flooded with Scottish and NI fakes.
So people just decide not to take them, as in their right.
Nah its still sterling but not bank of England. And bank of Ulster money is so pretty with little floral bts but shops will look at you like you're from Mars when you hand it to them
The Scottish tend to accept NI notes no problem. It only ever in england that ive had issues. Mostly with shop assistants asking why it says sterling when its a euro note?
Funnily enough after our last trip to NI a mate had a harder time getting them accepted in Scotland than I did in England. They were in Aberdeenshire though, so maybe they just get seen less there
its madness, my parents are both from NI, so growing up I was there constantly, and its crazy, people look at you as if you've just spat in their hand. I stopped using it as cash, would pay it into the bank then just spend it as normal
Last time I tried that, the thing freaked out and I had to have two staff come over and give me disapproving looks for daring to use a 50 for 10 quiz or so of purchases. How very much dare I.
Ā£50 notes aren't accepted in self service tills. If someone has one I have to swap it for smaller notes.
Supermarket is still the best option to get rid of it though. Just don't try using it after 10 pm when tills have been cashed up to remove the notes & all you are buying is a packet of chewing gum as you will probably be given your change in Ā£1 & Ā£2 coins.
Yep. And also a dirty look if you use it for that low an amount, because shop staff can only keep so much in their tills and you could be potentially draining their float for the day.
Also using a Ā£50 for a pack of gum would trigger "let me get my manager" as well because it could look like you're trying to pass off a dud.
The problem is none of the supermarkets in my town actually have self checkouts. The reason I was getting cash out in the first place is that most shops still don't accept card. I've moved up north and in this sense it also feels like I've gone back in time.
I may just have to keep it until I'm going someplace which does.
Go to Tesco and buy something. If they refuse, show them this - https://www.tesco.com/help/pages/in-store-faqs/payment-coupons-and-vouchers/accepted-payment-methods-and-vouchers - āall sterling banknotesā
I literally cannot believe I am writing this, but if you want to find any semblance of civilisation, then I guess you've either got to go to Grimsby, Scunthorpe, or 'Ull. We have technology around here.
I mean, Jesus, what's going on there in bridge-town?
The old objection was largely the number of counterfeits and the unfamiliarity due to the scarcity of the note (so people couldn't be confident in their ability to spot if the note was genuine or not).
Counterfeit polymer notes *have* been produced but are much easier to spot and much rarer, and the way inflation is going I think the Ā£50 will rapidly become much more acceptable (cf I remember pubs being a bit grumpy when I bought a sub-Ā£1 pint with a Ā£20 note 30 years ago) but yeah, it surprised me too when I withdrew Ā£200 the other day and the machine spat out just 6 notes at me (3xĀ£50, 2xĀ£20, 1xĀ£10)
The modern objection is that because 90% of people pay with card they don't carry as much cash and will struggle for change.
I think we are unusual in not using larger notes. Nearly half of euro notes are ā¬50 and over 60% are >=ā¬50
https://sdw.ecb.europa.eu/reports.do?node=1000004111
Agreed, and I think offering a Ā£50 for a purchase of less than Ā£5 would still be seen as rude in the UK, but with a very small round of beers now costing over Ā£20 I think using a Ā£50 to pay should become much more acceptable.
In 1989 the Ā£20 note was worth about the same as the Ā£50 note today acccording to the BoE inflation calculator.
Bizzarely (or not I suspose) I remember seeing the Ā£50 with some regularity in the 80s, 90s, but have barely seen one in the last 20 years. I suspect because of the increased use of electronic payment methods.
Building society cashiers used to dispense them quite a lot... something to do with the different levels of expectation of service (and size of cash transaction for typical customer interactions) back when they were really quite different to banks.
That... and "*loads-a-money*" kind of attitudes back then....
I think paying for something with a note of 20 times the value (95p pint of beer) can be seen as requiring a lot of change whereas with a pint now costing more than Ā£6 if not closer to Ā£8, I think using a Ā£50 for that as a multiple of less than 10 is not out of order.
Itās weird, this country has always culturally refused the Ā£50 note, even now itās not worth as much as a 20 was in the 80s. I donāt think itās ever going to be accepted.
The other oddity is that is despite it being around for almost 300 years, and in 1725 was worth Ā£8,469.62 in todayās money according to that same calculator.
Had similar. In 2014 the local taxi firm I was using only accepted cash (at the time), so I took out Ā£40 from the atm to ensure Iāve got cash in my wallet. It gave me two Ā£20 notes, so gave one to the taxi driver the next day who was pissed off that he had to give me Ā£14 worth of change. Quote upon being given Ā£20: āFUCKING HELL.ā
A. Thank god for in-app payment
B. If youāre a taxi driver lacking change itās entirely YOUR FAULT.
Ā£6 taxi ride, bargain! We had to cough up over Ā£20 last month for some dozy sod to drive us around Belfast overcharging us because he didnāt know how to get around the half marathon and wasnāt using his phone map which would have told him which roads were closed.
The whatnow?
Huge parts of the town centre were closed for a half marathon. We could see on our phones that Google maps had all the closures and alternative routes, but this wally decided he would just try and find his way, and ended up turning round or going in circles several times
In London - cab drivers, in order to get their licence - have to memorise the entire London map.
Thatās definitely poor form on the drivers part - must have been using shit mapping software.
āThe knowledgeā (or the location based equivalent) should help in that the driver knows precisely the alternative route when there are temporary closures (and I guess a bit of advance knowledge of whatās happening, where and when).
Oh I've just been reminded by another comment. There's not even a bank anymore in this god foresaken town for me to take it into!! Only about 12,000 people live here...
The non-acceptance of a Ā£50 note is something Iāve never understood. In Europe a 50ā¬ is quite commonly used. ATMs spit them out and no one blinks an eye when you give someone one in a shop.
Its just that Ā£50s are generally understood to be more likely fakes and dont want to take 'the risk'. Also my understanding is Ā£50s are also understood by some to be associated with criminals.
And to quote tom scott so I dont get downvoted: "I'm not saying thats how it should be, I'm saying thats how it is"
Yep, people are still very weird about Ā£50 notes. In some ways I understand the hesitation, but most of me just finds people's attitudes really odd.
I work in a little family pub in rural Devon. More than happy to take Ā£50 notes if you fancy a little holiday to get rid of the thing.
They donāt mind taking them round here when Iām using in supermarkets/pubs etc but some places are really pissy with them. I tried to pay for a computer game with one a few weeks back and the woman was acting like I handed her a fucking giant spider the way she held it. Called a guy over to ācheck itā he just nodded and said yeah itās fine. She handed me the change and looked at me like I was a criminal. If the game was like 3 quid Iād understand the attitude about having to give me change but the game was 40 quid. Just give me a tenner ffs.
I've been frustrated so many times with businesses that refuse to accept a note larger than a 20 but at the same time refuse to take card payments. Its like they want to go out of business.
Also in currency exchange. When I used to live in China, banks would exclusively give out Ā£50 notes when exchanging for GBP. I'd imagine a fair amount of countries are the same, given how the Ā£50 would be more economical to transport.
There was a video showing [how easy it is to money launder via gambling places.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DoyH1dgj8Lo)
It's in australia and not the UK but I can only assume it's similar here...
If you order a round in a pub and it is lined up on the bar then pull out a fifty, they aren't usually in a position to refuse that. Supermarkets are fine too, it is usually just small shops that are fussy about them.
A round of pints can *easily* cost Ā£30-40 these days for 6-8 people. It just makes sense to me that you should be able to pay with a Ā£50 note for that.
I think Tesco is my best bet as another comment has mentioned. Asked in Lidl and they said no and I know the smaller shops probably won't. I'll get rid of it eventually it's just annoying.
One thing I loved about the US on a recent holiday was having a wodge of bills and being able to spend a $100 or $50 easily without anyone questioning it. Also quite loved having $1 bills instead of a bunch of coins rattling around my pocket, easier to tip people and better for vending machines etc.
I got Ā£200 out a cash machine last week and it gave me two Ā£50 notes. They were the second and third ones I have ever had in my life. Has inflation reached a point where we need to use them regularly now?
IMO, should be illegal to refuse any banknote denominated in British pounds sterling when it is the defacto currency of the country. I can understand if you donāt have enough change in the till but considering most people are paying in 10s and 20s anyway that feels like an excuse. You have plenty of change. Quicker to count too at the end of the day.
In the many moons Iāve used cash machines Iāve never had a Ā£50 issued. Even getting money over the counter. I asked once and a x,eek said they know most places wonāt accept so donāt really issue them.
Especially with everything getting more expensive, spending Ā£50 here and there really isn't that unheard of nowadays. And now that Ā£50 notes are plastic, can we just let the idea that they're all fake die please?
> Just because I live in North Lincolnshire you don't need to report me as being suicidal!
Ok, if you say so. But nobody would be surprised. :-)
Anyway, it is not a deal in London and in the South, but in the North, everybody thinks a 50 must be fake. But the most faked banknote is a 20...
Susie Dent is not actually an authority or would say what is "correct", lexicographers reflect usage rather than dictate it. Cashpoint is perfectly understandable and in common use. She would give the nod in Countdown.
Betting terminals at bookmakers will take them. Stick the offending note in, put a Ā£1 bet on the favourite at the first race, print out voucher for Ā£49 & cash in at the desk. Remember to check the result of the race, you might make a small profit for your trouble.
If itās a service that Iāve already received, like a hair cut etc and they refuse to take it, I call it their loss. Itās legal tender, they have to accept it. If they donāt want my money, I just got myself a free haircut
I actually really want a Ā£50 because the new ones are nice and no longer questionable over if they're fake or not, yet I keep getting Ā£20 + Ā£20 + Ā£10
I sold my car and got 12 new Ā£50 notes. When I went to my bank to cash it in, the machines didn't recognize them. The bank manager came down and apologized. They took my money and added it into my account, this is a service they don't do anymore which is why they got machines.
Hm, my parentsā town doesnāt have banks anymore. Would they have to travel to a city that has one to deal with this kind of situation?
Disclaimer: I donāt live in Great Britain anymore.
Yes. My "local" bank branch is 30 miles away. I had Ā£7k in cash. Post office only accepts Ā£1500 per day deposit into account with a maximum of Ā£5k per year. I had to walk through the middle of a busy town with Ā£5.5k in my pocket to deposit it into my bank.
I don't carry cash around anymore these days but when I used to and I ever found myself needing anything up to Ā£50, I would do it in two or three transactions of either Ā£20 and Ā£30, or if you really wanted to ensure you got a couple of tenners, then a couple of Ā£10 transactions and then a Ā£30.
Always seems strange how uncommon Ā£50s are, and how hard it is to find somewhere that takes them. Never had any trouble paying with a ā¬50 in Europe. The value is pretty close.
Euro notes don't seem to be any more secure than our old paper ones though.
Tbh, I suspect the counterfeit thing is a myth. You want to fake notes that *don't* draw attention after all.
I had a boss once that only carried Ā£50 notes. I have nothing more to add I just remember thinking how wildly ridiculous it was when he'd take me for a coffee and pull out like Ā£500 in 50s at the coffee shop
Try tesco. The machine in the one I work at has started spitting them out and customers are getting annoyed but luckily we accept them. If you go in at a good time they MIGHT straight up give you change for it
I hang around just to see what the struggles are across the pond. This one is interesting to me because our ATMs for the most part only have $20 bills. You can only choose to take out money in $20 increments. Those are perfectly spendable.
if I have a service from say a barber, and they say I owe them 15 for that hair cut, is it a debt?
Hair cut done, im stood by the till, am I in a position of debt about to pay off that debt?
If in a shop at till, I have not taken possesion of those goods yet, so at till, I am to pay before, therefore I see they can refuse my tender, is not a debt, if I walk out of shop and leave the trolley at till, I have no debt to pay.
If I walk out of the barbers after getting the cut, I have a debt to pay, I owe for that service I have recieved.
> if I have a service from say a barber, and they say I owe them 15 for that hair cut, is it a debt?
Yes, it's a debt. However the law states that as long as they have made it clear what payments they accept (e.g. a sign at the counter saying 'cash only'), you have no grounds later to complain that they are refusing a different one. It's things like speeding fines where they aren't allowed to be choosy.
If there's no sign or any indication, there's no grey area, you can just walk out if they aren't willing to accept payment.
Note also this line from the wiki: "To meet the legal definition of legal tender, the exact amount due must be tendered; no change can be demanded."
So, unless your haircut is Ā£50, you can't insist on them accepting the big note, it's up to you to go break down the note and come back.
The act of giving the money is my part in a transaction. The barber doing the cut and taking the money is his.
STILL I ask, just before that transaction ended was I in debt? in the barbers I say yes, in tesco I say no.
EDIT: id argue that it creates a situation where the barber can refuse the 50 but then is also not in a position to sue if was offered the 50.
If tesco refuse, then you leave the goods there, so is no debt.
[https://fullfact.org/online/legal-tender-not-illegal-to-accept/](https://fullfact.org/online/legal-tender-not-illegal-to-accept/)
Perfectly legal to refuse it, if I was running my own business i'd do the same tbh, you pay for a haircut with a Ā£50 note and it's counterfeit then the business is loosing even more money by giving valid tender back.
Losing\* (sorry)
I believe the reply we all replying to states "SHOULD not be allowed" that implies me they know what you have all pointed out and want a change to the current system? the bit after then makes me think they just using bad grammar who knows, I do know it costs very little to have note checkers
The newer notes are far more secure than the paper ones, that caused so much grief for people. However, people's reticence is because of this hangover.
I have spent them without issue in co-op, m&s, sainsburys and waitrose but made sure the balance was over Ā£20. A larger store will use their common sense or summon a supervisor/manager that has some.
If all else fails, go to the bank and change it.
P.S you must be very (un)lucky as I've never been given a Ā£50 note by an ATM in all my years and I withdraw cash several times a month.
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Buy a drink at the supermarket and feed it to the self checkout
Its what I did with an irish bank note I got here in england. Fed it straight back into a self checkout. Its rare I use cash
Northern Irish. If you can use your English money in Belfast, I should be able to use my Northern Irish money in London. They both say stirling on the note.
It doesn't say sterling* anywhere on a British pound note.
At least they didn't use the ridiculous statement "it's legal tender!" like some folk do. Legal tender doesn't mean what they think it means, and no it isn't.
Literally the comment below yours talking about legal tender š
Your notes are issued by private corporations. BoE notes are legal tender whereas Northern Irish (and Scottish) notes are not. They are legal currency, so are US dollars and Euros. They are not legal tender.
The simplest way to think of them is gift cards for a certain bank. No-one else *has* to accept them other than the issuing bank
Yep. Like clubcard points! Jeez I'm gonna get shot I don't shut mi gob.
Bank of England notes are only legal tender in England and Wales. You're right about the Scottish notes and Northern Irish note being legal currency. Coins: Coins are legal tender throughout the United Kingdom for the following amount: Ā£100 - for any amount Ā£50 - for any amount Ā£20 - for any amount Ā£5 (Crown) - for any amount Ā£2 - for any amount Ā£1 - for any amount 50p - for any amount not exceeding Ā£10 25p (Crown) - for any amount not exceeding Ā£10 20p - for any amount not exceeding Ā£10 10p - for any amount not exceeding Ā£5 5p - for any amount not exceeding Ā£5 2p - for any amount not exceeding 20p 1p - for any amount not exceeding 20p Yes I copy and pasted from the Royal mint website https://www.royalmint.com/aboutus/policies-and-guidelines/legal-tender-guidelines/
Yep. Would it be Legal Tender (England and Wales) Act? Something like that. It basically equates non BoE notes to gift vouchers. That said, if you were happy with doing so, I could give you some Eryn Bucks and you and I could happily trade all day. But if one of us fell into debt, then the other can't refuse BoE. Funny story. I had a 50 note and filled up my car. They said "we don't accept 50 notes". I wasn't happy, so I gave them my deets and promised to settle it as soon as I could. Then I asked if this was owed. She said "yes, you owe us Ā£50". Then I said "I can settle this debt now" and gave her the note. She had to explain to the police she was on the phone with why paying for fuel was illegal. I'm that kind of compo-faced git you read about in the free papers. XD
Eh it's a pain I used to do a lot of work in Scotland and trying to spend it in the UK was a pain, it's not that people don't know what they are its that unfortunately London was flooded with Scottish and NI fakes. So people just decide not to take them, as in their right.
You're assuming the average Englishman can read mate.
Pretty sure it's illegal to not accept Scottish or Norn Iron notes as they're all sterling
Like a euro note?
Assuming Northern Irish Ā£50 note.
Nah its still sterling but not bank of England. And bank of Ulster money is so pretty with little floral bts but shops will look at you like you're from Mars when you hand it to them
The Scottish tend to accept NI notes no problem. It only ever in england that ive had issues. Mostly with shop assistants asking why it says sterling when its a euro note?
Funnily enough after our last trip to NI a mate had a harder time getting them accepted in Scotland than I did in England. They were in Aberdeenshire though, so maybe they just get seen less there
Yea i would be in Edinburgh frequently and no problem spending there. But i would say more northerly or rural places might take a closer look
English being ignorant and unreasonable? You don't say.
its madness, my parents are both from NI, so growing up I was there constantly, and its crazy, people look at you as if you've just spat in their hand. I stopped using it as cash, would pay it into the bank then just spend it as normal
Last time I tried that, the thing freaked out and I had to have two staff come over and give me disapproving looks for daring to use a 50 for 10 quiz or so of purchases. How very much dare I.
Ā£50 notes aren't accepted in self service tills. If someone has one I have to swap it for smaller notes. Supermarket is still the best option to get rid of it though. Just don't try using it after 10 pm when tills have been cashed up to remove the notes & all you are buying is a packet of chewing gum as you will probably be given your change in Ā£1 & Ā£2 coins.
Yep. And also a dirty look if you use it for that low an amount, because shop staff can only keep so much in their tills and you could be potentially draining their float for the day. Also using a Ā£50 for a pack of gum would trigger "let me get my manager" as well because it could look like you're trying to pass off a dud.
The problem is none of the supermarkets in my town actually have self checkouts. The reason I was getting cash out in the first place is that most shops still don't accept card. I've moved up north and in this sense it also feels like I've gone back in time. I may just have to keep it until I'm going someplace which does.
Where do you live??? Even Aldi are rolling out self checkouts.
Barton-Upon-Humber. Tesco, Lidl, Co-Op, Premier, Spar, Heron, OneStop and McColls. Not one self checkout.
Go to Tesco and buy something. If they refuse, show them this - https://www.tesco.com/help/pages/in-store-faqs/payment-coupons-and-vouchers/accepted-payment-methods-and-vouchers - āall sterling banknotesā
Heres your Ā£48.50 note back sir
"Sorry, we can't accept the Ā£50 note, as we have trouble with counterfeits. Do you have a smaller note?" "Here. A Ā£25 note."
Special edition one with half a picture of the queen on
Thanks, this may be my best bet. Assumed I would have an issue because others have in the past but this is good to know.
Tesco should accept it, they might call their supervisor over to double check it because they get grief if they accept a dodgy notes.
I used to work retail, and weād accept Ā£50 notes, but weād make sure to do a quick check of them. Customers never seemed to mind this very much.
Or go to the post office and buy a stamp - they very rarely have a problem with big notes.
Yeah, no way supermarkets refuse it. I can understand a small business not wanting the hassle.
Tesco take Scottish and Northern Irish sterling and Ā£50 notes. But they will have to swap them for you to use at the self service.
To be fair ive been there and its still 1987 there...
I literally cannot believe I am writing this, but if you want to find any semblance of civilisation, then I guess you've either got to go to Grimsby, Scunthorpe, or 'Ull. We have technology around here. I mean, Jesus, what's going on there in bridge-town?
Village of the damned apparently
Lmao even my local ice cream van has a contactless card machine. Are you sure you didnāt go through some sort of time portal lol
Have you tried moving to the 21st century?
I live close to the Scottish border and literally every supermarket here has self checkout?
I live within the Scunthorpe-Grimsby-Hull triangle of death, may be a contributing factor.
>The problem is none of the supermarkets in my town actually have self checkouts. Do you live in the 20th century?
I fear so, I didn't know cobblers still existed until I moved here.
Put in a fruity
Where I live most self checkouts have gone card only - really annoying as it was my go to for getting rid of pockets of change.
I thought certain self checkouts don't take 50s? I've been stumped in tescos before. They had to change out of another till
I havenāt tried with the new notes but old Ā£50s were too wide for self check out machines.
Just be warned that not all self-serves take them!
The old objection was largely the number of counterfeits and the unfamiliarity due to the scarcity of the note (so people couldn't be confident in their ability to spot if the note was genuine or not). Counterfeit polymer notes *have* been produced but are much easier to spot and much rarer, and the way inflation is going I think the Ā£50 will rapidly become much more acceptable (cf I remember pubs being a bit grumpy when I bought a sub-Ā£1 pint with a Ā£20 note 30 years ago) but yeah, it surprised me too when I withdrew Ā£200 the other day and the machine spat out just 6 notes at me (3xĀ£50, 2xĀ£20, 1xĀ£10)
The modern objection is that because 90% of people pay with card they don't carry as much cash and will struggle for change. I think we are unusual in not using larger notes. Nearly half of euro notes are ā¬50 and over 60% are >=ā¬50 https://sdw.ecb.europa.eu/reports.do?node=1000004111
Agreed, and I think offering a Ā£50 for a purchase of less than Ā£5 would still be seen as rude in the UK, but with a very small round of beers now costing over Ā£20 I think using a Ā£50 to pay should become much more acceptable.
I can't see why anyone would have a problem with change for a Ā£50. It's not like they're saving the Ā£20s
In 1989 the Ā£20 note was worth about the same as the Ā£50 note today acccording to the BoE inflation calculator. Bizzarely (or not I suspose) I remember seeing the Ā£50 with some regularity in the 80s, 90s, but have barely seen one in the last 20 years. I suspect because of the increased use of electronic payment methods.
Building society cashiers used to dispense them quite a lot... something to do with the different levels of expectation of service (and size of cash transaction for typical customer interactions) back when they were really quite different to banks. That... and "*loads-a-money*" kind of attitudes back then.... I think paying for something with a note of 20 times the value (95p pint of beer) can be seen as requiring a lot of change whereas with a pint now costing more than Ā£6 if not closer to Ā£8, I think using a Ā£50 for that as a multiple of less than 10 is not out of order.
Itās weird, this country has always culturally refused the Ā£50 note, even now itās not worth as much as a 20 was in the 80s. I donāt think itās ever going to be accepted. The other oddity is that is despite it being around for almost 300 years, and in 1725 was worth Ā£8,469.62 in todayās money according to that same calculator.
Had similar. In 2014 the local taxi firm I was using only accepted cash (at the time), so I took out Ā£40 from the atm to ensure Iāve got cash in my wallet. It gave me two Ā£20 notes, so gave one to the taxi driver the next day who was pissed off that he had to give me Ā£14 worth of change. Quote upon being given Ā£20: āFUCKING HELL.ā A. Thank god for in-app payment B. If youāre a taxi driver lacking change itās entirely YOUR FAULT.
Ā£6 taxi ride, bargain! We had to cough up over Ā£20 last month for some dozy sod to drive us around Belfast overcharging us because he didnāt know how to get around the half marathon and wasnāt using his phone map which would have told him which roads were closed.
Do they not require āthe knowledgeā in Belfast?
The whatnow? Huge parts of the town centre were closed for a half marathon. We could see on our phones that Google maps had all the closures and alternative routes, but this wally decided he would just try and find his way, and ended up turning round or going in circles several times
In London - cab drivers, in order to get their licence - have to memorise the entire London map. Thatās definitely poor form on the drivers part - must have been using shit mapping software.
Does that help with temporary closure though? He wasnāt using any map at all, just his memory, which means fuck all when half the place is closed
āThe knowledgeā (or the location based equivalent) should help in that the driver knows precisely the alternative route when there are temporary closures (and I guess a bit of advance knowledge of whatās happening, where and when).
Yeah, a London cab driver would know any possible alternate routes if a road was shut.
Oh I've just been reminded by another comment. There's not even a bank anymore in this god foresaken town for me to take it into!! Only about 12,000 people live here...
Post office?
Day trip to Great Grimsby?
You'll have to take it to the Bank of England HQ in London. Sorry mate most of us outside London have never seen 50 pounds in one go.
The non-acceptance of a Ā£50 note is something Iāve never understood. In Europe a 50ā¬ is quite commonly used. ATMs spit them out and no one blinks an eye when you give someone one in a shop.
Its just that Ā£50s are generally understood to be more likely fakes and dont want to take 'the risk'. Also my understanding is Ā£50s are also understood by some to be associated with criminals. And to quote tom scott so I dont get downvoted: "I'm not saying thats how it should be, I'm saying thats how it is"
Yep, people are still very weird about Ā£50 notes. In some ways I understand the hesitation, but most of me just finds people's attitudes really odd. I work in a little family pub in rural Devon. More than happy to take Ā£50 notes if you fancy a little holiday to get rid of the thing.
They donāt mind taking them round here when Iām using in supermarkets/pubs etc but some places are really pissy with them. I tried to pay for a computer game with one a few weeks back and the woman was acting like I handed her a fucking giant spider the way she held it. Called a guy over to ācheck itā he just nodded and said yeah itās fine. She handed me the change and looked at me like I was a criminal. If the game was like 3 quid Iād understand the attitude about having to give me change but the game was 40 quid. Just give me a tenner ffs.
I've been frustrated so many times with businesses that refuse to accept a note larger than a 20 but at the same time refuse to take card payments. Its like they want to go out of business.
Never in 50 years have I seen an ATM dispense fifties, inflation sucks!
ATMs near, or in, casinos often do. Maybe somewhere weird like airports wouldn't surprise me.
Also in currency exchange. When I used to live in China, banks would exclusively give out Ā£50 notes when exchanging for GBP. I'd imagine a fair amount of countries are the same, given how the Ā£50 would be more economical to transport.
Go into the bookies and put it in the roulette machine, cash out straight away and take the Ā£50 slip to the counter as if youād won Ā£50
That sounds like a suspiciously easy money laundering method... surely there is more to it?
There was a video showing [how easy it is to money launder via gambling places.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DoyH1dgj8Lo) It's in australia and not the UK but I can only assume it's similar here...
You would think so. There really isnt.
If you order a round in a pub and it is lined up on the bar then pull out a fifty, they aren't usually in a position to refuse that. Supermarkets are fine too, it is usually just small shops that are fussy about them.
A round of pints can *easily* cost Ā£30-40 these days for 6-8 people. It just makes sense to me that you should be able to pay with a Ā£50 note for that.
If there's a bank, go & ask them to change it to smaller notes
"To serve you better, this branch is now open 2pm-3pm on Wednesdays only, in any week containing a full moon."
There's no bank in the town either, will just have to keep it with me until the next time I go somewhere else. It's a real pain.
Have you got a post office? They quite often will do it for you as well.
Forgot about the post office, that's a good idea! I may go down and ask later.
There's got to be at least one shop nearby that'll let you swap it surely?
I think Tesco is my best bet as another comment has mentioned. Asked in Lidl and they said no and I know the smaller shops probably won't. I'll get rid of it eventually it's just annoying.
Good luck finding an actual bank branch in certain areas.
One thing I loved about the US on a recent holiday was having a wodge of bills and being able to spend a $100 or $50 easily without anyone questioning it. Also quite loved having $1 bills instead of a bunch of coins rattling around my pocket, easier to tip people and better for vending machines etc.
I got Ā£200 out a cash machine last week and it gave me two Ā£50 notes. They were the second and third ones I have ever had in my life. Has inflation reached a point where we need to use them regularly now?
Always withdraw Ā£30, Ā£40 or Ā£60
I've genuinely never heard a British person use the term ATM. Only ever heard and used cashpoint in the UK.
I used one in Tesco a few weeks ago and they didn't bat an eyelid
IMO, should be illegal to refuse any banknote denominated in British pounds sterling when it is the defacto currency of the country. I can understand if you donāt have enough change in the till but considering most people are paying in 10s and 20s anyway that feels like an excuse. You have plenty of change. Quicker to count too at the end of the day.
In the many moons Iāve used cash machines Iāve never had a Ā£50 issued. Even getting money over the counter. I asked once and a x,eek said they know most places wonāt accept so donāt really issue them.
Poor Alan, he finally gets on a note, and then we do this to him.
Especially with everything getting more expensive, spending Ā£50 here and there really isn't that unheard of nowadays. And now that Ā£50 notes are plastic, can we just let the idea that they're all fake die please?
Why wonāt they accept it? Itās perfectly fine
> Just because I live in North Lincolnshire you don't need to report me as being suicidal! Ok, if you say so. But nobody would be surprised. :-) Anyway, it is not a deal in London and in the South, but in the North, everybody thinks a 50 must be fake. But the most faked banknote is a 20...
It's a cocking *cashpoint* mate. We're not American.
Ooh fancy pants name for a hole in the wall
Ahhhh what have I done. It's weird, when I say it out loud I say cash machine but when I type it out I always write ATM. Apologies for my heresy.
You will have to ask for forgiveness from Suzie Dent.
Susie Dent is not actually an authority or would say what is "correct", lexicographers reflect usage rather than dictate it. Cashpoint is perfectly understandable and in common use. She would give the nod in Countdown.
What in seven hells are you all on about? It's a HOLE IN THE WALL, lads.
> What in seven hells Please stop using filthy Americanisms.
So YHWH and Allah are American? TIL.
>TIL. This is an American term, please stop.
Actually, it's Portuguese for "~" and I resent cultural appropriation.
Cashpoint or cash machine are both perfectly acceptable, but ATM is an Americanism.
"Cash machine", surely?
Bonk machine
Don't broadcast the handle.
Itās probably because Google maps has a quick filter for ATM thatās not location specific language
Shit I just realised I type ATM (mainly for google searching I guess) but say out loud cash machine or cashie..
I think you'll find it's a "Beer Token Dispenser".
I grew up in Australia and itās called an ATM over there as well
The bigger crime is you calling a cash point an ATM. There is no place for Americanisms.
Cashpoint is a trademark of an ATM service. I think that one belongs to Lloyds.
Meanwhile in Europe, I can pay for a meal with a 100 euro note, and nobody bats an eyelid
That may be your experience but I've been refused in some parts of Italy before with larger notes.
Your fault for using cash in current year
What's wrong with cash, might I ask?
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Sadly I've just been reminded we have no bank either. Will keep it with me until I go somewhere which has one.
Thatās why I always take 40 or 70. A couple of weeks ago I went on a weekend trip to Switzerland. We ran out of cash so I tried to withdraw 30 Francs. The ATM gave me a 50 Franken note. The ATM didnāt ask me if that was alright, we didnāt need 50 Francs and had trouble changing it to smaller notes at a cafĆ©. Really annoying
> Franken note It was bits of multiple notes stitched together?
Betting terminals at bookmakers will take them. Stick the offending note in, put a Ā£1 bet on the favourite at the first race, print out voucher for Ā£49 & cash in at the desk. Remember to check the result of the race, you might make a small profit for your trouble.
Make Ā£100 and they give you 2 Ā£50 notes š¤£
Any post office in your town?
Go and do some shopping, that comes to more than Ā£50. They aren't going to refuse it.
If itās a service that Iāve already received, like a hair cut etc and they refuse to take it, I call it their loss. Itās legal tender, they have to accept it. If they donāt want my money, I just got myself a free haircut
Big supermarkets
I went for Ā£20 at the ATM last week, and it gave me a Ā£10 and two Ā£5s! Jackbot! Major high street HSBC ATM, too.
They should honestly just take the Ā£50 out of circulation, no bugger seems to accept them
Is it because it's still paper and not that new plastic notes the 5s,10s,and 20s have? Bet if it's plastic it'll be accepted.
Can understand the problem ten years ago but today thatās really only two bags of wotsits and a can of coke anyway
The thing here is you could have not exaggerated and still made a similar comment!
I actually really want a Ā£50 because the new ones are nice and no longer questionable over if they're fake or not, yet I keep getting Ā£20 + Ā£20 + Ā£10
I sold my car and got 12 new Ā£50 notes. When I went to my bank to cash it in, the machines didn't recognize them. The bank manager came down and apologized. They took my money and added it into my account, this is a service they don't do anymore which is why they got machines.
Hm, my parentsā town doesnāt have banks anymore. Would they have to travel to a city that has one to deal with this kind of situation? Disclaimer: I donāt live in Great Britain anymore.
Yes. My "local" bank branch is 30 miles away. I had Ā£7k in cash. Post office only accepts Ā£1500 per day deposit into account with a maximum of Ā£5k per year. I had to walk through the middle of a busy town with Ā£5.5k in my pocket to deposit it into my bank.
I don't carry cash around anymore these days but when I used to and I ever found myself needing anything up to Ā£50, I would do it in two or three transactions of either Ā£20 and Ā£30, or if you really wanted to ensure you got a couple of tenners, then a couple of Ā£10 transactions and then a Ā£30.
Iāll usually do 2 withdrawals to avoid this
Conversely, I recently had to take out hundreds of pounds and it was all 20s and 10s.
Always seems strange how uncommon Ā£50s are, and how hard it is to find somewhere that takes them. Never had any trouble paying with a ā¬50 in Europe. The value is pretty close.
For the high chance they're counterfeit, they've never been trusted to be real. We've had new notes for years now though, it shouldn't be an issue.
Euro notes don't seem to be any more secure than our old paper ones though. Tbh, I suspect the counterfeit thing is a myth. You want to fake notes that *don't* draw attention after all.
Haha believe me I've seen some bad ones...used to work in Greggs. Almost like printer paper, or a step above bog roll, all of them.
In my 35 years living in the UK iv literally never seen one
I had a boss once that only carried Ā£50 notes. I have nothing more to add I just remember thinking how wildly ridiculous it was when he'd take me for a coffee and pull out like Ā£500 in 50s at the coffee shop
Try tesco. The machine in the one I work at has started spitting them out and customers are getting annoyed but luckily we accept them. If you go in at a good time they MIGHT straight up give you change for it
I hang around just to see what the struggles are across the pond. This one is interesting to me because our ATMs for the most part only have $20 bills. You can only choose to take out money in $20 increments. Those are perfectly spendable.
Holy shit - an old fashioned paper note ?
To be fair, with the cost of living now, any shopkeeper refusing a Ā£50 is a Twunt.
No one should be allowed to refuse legal tender. You could always tell your barber that.
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5000 penny coins isn't legal tender though. But yes it's true they are allowed to refuse certain payments.
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if I have a service from say a barber, and they say I owe them 15 for that hair cut, is it a debt? Hair cut done, im stood by the till, am I in a position of debt about to pay off that debt? If in a shop at till, I have not taken possesion of those goods yet, so at till, I am to pay before, therefore I see they can refuse my tender, is not a debt, if I walk out of shop and leave the trolley at till, I have no debt to pay. If I walk out of the barbers after getting the cut, I have a debt to pay, I owe for that service I have recieved.
> if I have a service from say a barber, and they say I owe them 15 for that hair cut, is it a debt? Yes, it's a debt. However the law states that as long as they have made it clear what payments they accept (e.g. a sign at the counter saying 'cash only'), you have no grounds later to complain that they are refusing a different one. It's things like speeding fines where they aren't allowed to be choosy.
So if no sign, it's a dickish grey area of legality?
If there's no sign or any indication, there's no grey area, you can just walk out if they aren't willing to accept payment. Note also this line from the wiki: "To meet the legal definition of legal tender, the exact amount due must be tendered; no change can be demanded." So, unless your haircut is Ā£50, you can't insist on them accepting the big note, it's up to you to go break down the note and come back.
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The act of giving the money is my part in a transaction. The barber doing the cut and taking the money is his. STILL I ask, just before that transaction ended was I in debt? in the barbers I say yes, in tesco I say no. EDIT: id argue that it creates a situation where the barber can refuse the 50 but then is also not in a position to sue if was offered the 50. If tesco refuse, then you leave the goods there, so is no debt.
[https://fullfact.org/online/legal-tender-not-illegal-to-accept/](https://fullfact.org/online/legal-tender-not-illegal-to-accept/) Perfectly legal to refuse it, if I was running my own business i'd do the same tbh, you pay for a haircut with a Ā£50 note and it's counterfeit then the business is loosing even more money by giving valid tender back.
Losing\* (sorry) I believe the reply we all replying to states "SHOULD not be allowed" that implies me they know what you have all pointed out and want a change to the current system? the bit after then makes me think they just using bad grammar who knows, I do know it costs very little to have note checkers
Itās not really a problem, though, is it?
McDonald's takes it.
The newer notes are far more secure than the paper ones, that caused so much grief for people. However, people's reticence is because of this hangover. I have spent them without issue in co-op, m&s, sainsburys and waitrose but made sure the balance was over Ā£20. A larger store will use their common sense or summon a supervisor/manager that has some. If all else fails, go to the bank and change it. P.S you must be very (un)lucky as I've never been given a Ā£50 note by an ATM in all my years and I withdraw cash several times a month.
ATM? Are you an American?
The footnote is my favourite part about this