Scottish notes

Further to J Lang’s letter (5 September), I also experienced considerable difficulty in cashing Scottish notes in Kent. Un-wins refused outright to accept Scottish currency of any denomination whatsoever, and other retailers were also extremely re-luctant to accept it.

After contacting the Unwins head office, I received a letter from its company secretary, who confirmed that its staff are in-structed to "be vigilant" in ac-cepting Scottish notes, supposedly as a result of the "high number of forgeries in circulation currently".

The local tourist information office told me that retail staff "this far south" are often not aware that Scottish notes are legal tender and are "afraid of being told off by their manager for accepting them".

Perhaps it is time to institute a similar policy here (particularly during the Festival), with shop staff "this far north" refusing to accept notes presented by visitors from south of the Border. The outraged cries alleging anti-English bias would doubtless be heard from afar.

SANDY MACNAIR

Douglas Crescent

Edinburgh