PDA

View Full Version : Can you spend Irish money in the UK


pop80_uk
27-10-2007, 19:30
Hi people. :)
I need your help please, Ive been sent very kindly by a relative £20 in 4 £5 notes, only problem is they are from Ireland and Irish notes. Ive never seen them before and Im not sure if I can spend them in the UK???

So my question is can I? Ive looked on the Internet and I can find no answer, but I have a funny feeling shops will refuse the notes.

HELP! :(

MovedGoalPosts
27-10-2007, 19:33
Are these Pounds Sterling from Northern Ireland. If so I'd have expected them to be legal tender. However, many shops may not recognise them. You might need to get them changed at a bank.

If they are from Eire, then no they won't be valid since they went to the euro years ago.

pop80_uk
27-10-2007, 19:54
Hi
Its from Ireland it just says bank of Ireland on it Five Pounds stirling
Help?? Are these no longer legal tender???

papa smurf
27-10-2007, 20:07
NI is part of the uk so yes.. if there from the republic then no

tay77
27-10-2007, 20:08
If you're not sure, just take them into the bank and ask to have it in "English" Sterling.

Mr Angry
27-10-2007, 20:08
No.

iglu
27-10-2007, 20:18
Hi people. :)
I need your help please, Ive been sent very kindly by a relative £20 in 4 £5 notes, only problem is they are from Ireland and Irish notes. Ive never seen them before and Im not sure if I can spend them in the UK???

So my question is can I? Ive looked on the Internet and I can find no answer, but I have a funny feeling shops will refuse the notes.

HELP! :(

Ireland has Euros, NI has pounds and they are legal in mainland.

gaffer_gump
27-10-2007, 20:28
No.

Don't tease the op with going round the houses, just answer the question.. :D

rogerdraig
27-10-2007, 20:57
perfectly legal to spend but you might find a lot of shops wont take them

but as mentioned pop into a bank and they will swap them for you

gazzae
27-10-2007, 21:02
As people have said so few shops take them that the atms in the airports in belfast dispense english notes.

SMHarman
28-10-2007, 02:03
Hi people. :)
I need your help please, Ive been sent very kindly by a relative £20 in 4 £5 notes, only problem is they are from Ireland and Irish notes. Ive never seen them before and Im not sure if I can spend them in the UK???

So my question is can I? Ive looked on the Internet and I can find no answer, but I have a funny feeling shops will refuse the notes.

HELP! :(Yes, some shops won't like them, but if you wander into any bank they will swap them.
The reason most places don't like them is a lack of recognition so higher risk of fraud. Same with Scottish notes.

pop80_uk
28-10-2007, 11:45
Thanks people.
I will have to pop into a bank and change the notes for a real ones, I have no idea why the produce this money if you can not spend it (I.e scottish notes and Irish) why not just produce english notes.
Thanks again.

SMHarman
28-10-2007, 16:14
Because you can spend it. My local newsagent at the station would always take scottish and irish notes off me on the occasions I had them, but he knew me and knew where to find me if I was floating him dodgy notes. A dark pub in a popular location on a Saturday night may be less willing to take the risk.
Why do they produce their own money, well saves England spending money on printing money for another country (Scotland), or shipping masses of notes over the irish sea. Logistics would be the easy answer here.
Whenever the Bank of Scotland, or whoever prints another £1M of bank notes it has to deposit another £1M with the bank of england to guarantee those notes. So really it is just another printing house for the bank of england.

BBKing
28-10-2007, 20:30
Logistics would be the easy answer here.

Also history, particularly that of the Bank of England*.

* And Wales, of course, but we don't need to bother mentioning it.

Tezcatlipoca
28-10-2007, 20:39
Interesting...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legal_tender#In_the_United_Kingdom

altis
28-10-2007, 20:49
Taken from here:
http://www.bankofengland.co.uk/banknotes/about/faqs.htm

Are Scottish & Northern Irish notes legal tender?
In short ‘No’ these notes are not legal tender; only Bank of England notes are legal tender but only in England and Wales.
The term legal tender does not in itself govern the acceptability of banknotes in transactions. Whether or not notes have legal tender status, their acceptability as a means of payment is essentially a matter for agreement between the parties involved. Legal tender has a very narrow technical meaning in relation to the settlement of debt. If a debtor pays in legal tender the exact amount he owes under the terms of a contract, he has good defence in law if he is subsequently sued for non-payment of the debt. In ordinary everyday transactions, the term ‘legal tender’ has very little practical application.

Some more info here:
http://www.bankofengland.co.uk/banknotes/about/other_notes.htm

BBKing
29-10-2007, 10:01
Legal tender AFAIK has interesting rules about how large an amount you can pay in, say, 1p coins, and is related to debt. It isn't particulary relevant when dealing with a transaction between two people, where, this being Britain, we trust the individuals concerned (they can arguably agree to pay in horse manure, should they so wish, or even some exotic basket case currency like US dollars).

All this means that of course you can use Irish notes from either side of the border, as long as you are willing to look around for someone to take them.
There are shops in the UK that will happily accept Euros, for instance.

SMHarman
29-10-2007, 15:30
On the same basis you can write a cheque on any piece of paper and give it to someone. If it has all the relevant details on it and the counterparty accepts it then the bank will also process it.
I've actually done this with a friend to prove the point. He didn't believe it when the bank accepted it and the money appeared in his account a few days later, but it works.