Britain - The Official Thread

[ExigeEvan]

I don't know, but I'm not filling up until I break 400 miles on a tank for only the second time!

They have to give a weeks notice of striking anyway, and easter is a week away and they've said they don't plan to ruin the holiday period.

 

[Keef]

You guys don't know? Which means this story is just dramatizing some isolated circumstance? Interesting.

 

[Liquid]

Well I've been abroad for 7 months and tried my best to keep up with domestic issues but it's not easy. Sounds to me like it's classic British overreacting, so you're pretty much right.

 

[ExigeEvan]

You guys don't know? Which means this story is just dramatizing some isolated circumstance? Interesting.

Not isolated, it's been going on around the country. The store I work out had people queuing onto the main road for petrol and that's unprecedented.

However, the only reason for it is some loose words from an MP. People too that to it's word and started going nuts without considering the fact no strike date has been announced yet and they have to give 7 days notice for it to be legal.

And then a woman suffered severe burns because she was decanting petrol from a jerry can, as suggested by previous MP, into a jug in order to fill up her daughter's car. Weirdly, she did this in the kitchen, while cooking with a gas hob....

I shall admit I filled up with 30 litres today and into jerry cans. But it was a fuel-run for my mates race car that was just a tad thirstier with it's new high lift cams.

 

[TankAss95]

Looks like we are possibly in for some trouble...

Three pound coins in every 100 were found to be fake, according to official figures.
A Royal Mint sampling of coins has discovered that just over 3 per cent – about 44 million £1 coins – are counterfeits. The number of fake £1 coins has more than doubled in the past decade.
Any person using one is breaking the law, meaning that millions are unwittingly committing a crime.
Key signs that betray a fake include a poorly defined ribbed edge and a date and design on the reverse that do not match, experts say.
Lord Sassoon, the Commercial Secretary to the Treasury, disclosed that the number of counterfeit banknotes, mostly £20 notes, taken out of circulation last year was about 374,000.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/new.../Three-pound-coins-in-every-100-are-fake.html

Imagine the amount of money it would take to replace the 1£ coin if it ever gets too bad?

 

[homeforsummer]

Looks like we are possibly in for some trouble...

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/new.../Three-pound-coins-in-every-100-are-fake.html

Imagine the amount of money it would take to replace the 1£ coin if it ever gets too bad?

Okay, I accept there are problems with this, and someone is illegally profiting from it, but at the same time...

...is it not just really tempting to sort of... ignore it? 44 million counterfeit £1 coins is £44 million extra solvency, being used to buy products and services in the economy... I mean I'm probably missing something huge here but once it's left the hands of the crims surely it's beneficial to just turn a blind eye? I'm not saying that people should make counterfeit money in the first place but once it's out there do you really want to remove it?

 

[TankAss95]

Okay, I accept there are problems with this, and someone is illegally profiting from it, but at the same time...

...is it not just really tempting to sort of... ignore it? 44 million counterfeit £1 coins is £44 million extra solvency, being used to buy products and services in the economy... I mean I'm probably missing something huge here but once it's left the hands of the crims surely it's beneficial to just turn a blind eye? I'm not saying that people should make counterfeit money in the first place but once it's out there do you really want to remove it?

To be quite honest I don't really know enough about the problems forgeries would cause to our currency, I just saw this on the news this morning and it was mentioned that in Africa (I can't remember what actual country or currency it was) they were forced to remove and replace a whole coin out of circulation after it got past 4 fakes per 100.

We are at 3 fake pound coins per 100 right now. Just think about that - 3 percent of the time I get a pound coin from my grandmother when I visit her (bless her. ), I get a fake which cannot be used for a multitude of functions (such as paying for parking).

This can't be good.

 

[ExigeEvan]

It's old news, and not quite sure it's a story on 1st April 2012, or why it's made the news again.

Not to break the AUP, but I've seen a few fake coins in my time and they are quite easy to spot. The text on the side is sloppy, there usually aren't ridges on the side either. I've seen a few fail in vending machines but they work in lockers and I tend to see them returned to the store in which they came.

[EDIT]
Interestingly...

2010
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/...mber-of-fake-1-coins-could-force-reissue.html

heir warning came as new figures indicated there were £41 million fake £1 coins in Britain – one in every 36 in circulation.

2009
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/5124610/One-in-20-1-coins-is-fake-claims-expert.html

Royal Mint figures released in September last year suggested that 2 per cent of the coins - around 30 million in total - were fakes, but in January that figure was increased to 2.5 per cent.

 

[TankAss95]

^ I knew there has been a problem with forgeries for a while now, I think it just made the news because it seems to have broken the 3% mark.

So, what damage could this do if it gets worse? Will we be forced into producing a new coin?

 

[ExigeEvan]

^ I knew there has been a problem with forgeries for a while now, I think it just made the news because it seems to have broken the 3% mark.

So, what damage could this do if it gets worse? Will we be forced into producing a new coin?

Possibly a new coin, maybe something similar in design to the £2 or Euro coins that were created for just this reason.

 

[TankAss95]

Possibly a new coin, maybe something similar in design to the £2 or Euro coins that were created for just this reason.

Ah, but the question then is whether we will be able to afford this change...

 

[Liquid]

...is it not just really tempting to sort of... ignore it? 44 million counterfeit £1 coins is £44 million extra solvency, being used to buy products and services in the economy... I mean I'm probably missing something huge here but once it's left the hands of the crims surely it's beneficial to just turn a blind eye? I'm not saying that people should make counterfeit money in the first place but once it's out there do you really want to remove it?

44 million fake pounds almost guarantees 1 trolley token for every adult in the country. Problem solved.

^ I knew there has been a problem with forgeries for a while now, I think it just made the news because it seems to have broken the 3% mark.

So, what damage could this do if it gets worse? Will we be forced into producing a new coin?

Having worked with a till for a number of years, counterfeit notes aren't that difficult to detect if you know what to look for. I don't like the actual design because it seems to me as though they're making them look like euros but the new £20 note has at least 4 different checks that a cashier can make. The £20 being the most commonly scrutinised note where I work. Coins are generally harder but again, there are clues. I usually go for tapping it on the counter; a fake usually has an atypical sound. This is in addition to just looking at the things with my own eyes.

Not-legal tender (careful terminology) is used all the time in the UK. While it is permitted and accepted, Scottish or Northern Irish money is not legal tender outside of its respective country, and I'm not sure if it is legal in the respective country. That's a grey area that could be exploited. I don't know a bent Scottish £20 from Adam, so if I accidentally accept one, I'd be double screwed.

Customers get really annoyed when, in Wales, I check Scottish or Ulster money even more so. I know the laws. As the cashier, I'm just trying to cover my own back.

 

[ExigeEvan]

Illegal tender is used all the time in the UK. While it is permitted and accepted, Scottish or Northern Irish money is not legal tender outside of its respective country. That's a grey area that could be exploited. I don't know a bent Scottish £20 from Adam, so if I accidentally accept one, I'd be double screwed.

Scottish notes are not legal tender, but they are legal currency. There's nothing wrong with accepting them in England or Wales.

I've not come across NI currency, but I believe it's much the same.

[EDIT] Sorry, re-read your statement and you'd clarified, I probably should try to multi-task when involving such wording.

 

[Liquid]

I know, I had to think about it.

Illegal tender =/= Not-legal tender.

That was the point I was trying to make about it being a grey area.

Edit:

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.

My interpretation of "their acceptability as a means of payment is essentially a matter for agreement between the parties involved" is that the cashier or creditor has the right to refuse a Scottish or Ulster note in England or Wales.

Northern Irish money

Second Edit: Let's not exclude the Northern Irish. This thread should be the United Kingdom Thread.

Great Britain =/= United Kingdom

Great Britain = England, Scotland and Wales

United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

More grey area: 'British' is a correct adjectival form of someone or something from Northern Ireland. But so is 'Irish'. British in the same way that Welsh, Scottish or English things are also British, and Irish in the same way that British things can be sub-classified into Welsh, Scottish or English. To me, 'Irish' is a general term for the island of Ireland and doesn't have any indication of either the Irish Republic or Northern Ireland.

 

[homeforsummer]

There's nothing wrong with accepting them in England or Wales.

But you do get funny looks. And god forbid you're working in a shop and try to give out a Scottish note as change

 

[Liquid]

But you do get funny looks. And god forbid you're working in a shop and try to give out a Scottish note as change

Especially during a busy dinnertime rush at a fast food restaurant.

It's... well, the metaphorical gears I have become engaged in traction akin to grinding.

 

[MatskiMonk]

I had an English £5 turned down at the Supermarket in Wick (Top of Scotland) before.

 

[ExigeEvan]

But you do get funny looks. And god forbid you're working in a shop and try to give out a Scottish note as change

I'm guilty of that. I also do a full legit check on them, but then I do the same when I get £50 notes too.

 

[Liquid]

Fifties are the worst. Who gives them out? And then, what evil so-and-so used them to pay for a £3.99 meal?

I'd imagine that they're typically used for high-end business transactions. You almost never see them day to day, and I've never withdrawn one from a cashpoint.

Which reminds me. Little things that make you smile? Finding a cashpoint that gives out fivers.

 

[ExigeEvan]

Fifties are the worst. Who gives them out? And then, what evil so-and-so used them to pay for a £3.99 meal?

You get the odd one in supermarkets. It's usually a fairly well-off person who hasn't discovered the wonders of Chip+Pin.

Which reminds me. Little things that make you smile? Finding a cashpoint that gives out fivers.

Had them on Uni campus

 

[Liquid]

Had them on Uni campus

There's just the one in Bangor, but it's an absolute lifesaver.

"Only £20 notes available"

 

[Liquid]

24 hours with no posts

Found this quite funny.

 

[homeforsummer]

I had an English £5 turned down at the Supermarket in Wick (Top of Scotland) before.

Was probably the biggest amount of money they'd ever seen in one place at any one time. Must have thought it was fake!

 

[Touring Mars]

Anyone want to see if they are properly British?

http://www.ukcitizenshiptest.co.uk/

I got a rather rubbish 14/24 - that's a fail

 

[Liquid]

9/24

I'm Welsh anyway...

No questions on Fawlty Towers or Fred Dibnah? No reference to Richard Whiteley? This test us useless!

 

[homeforsummer]

Unless one of the questions is:

"Complete this sentence: Nice to see you... [blank]"

...then it's not a proper citizenship test.

 

[Famine]

Anyone want to see if they are properly British?

http://www.ukcitizenshiptest.co.uk/

I got a rather rubbish 14/24 - that's a fail

Give it a few months and you won't be British any more

I got 20/24 and passed, but some of those questions are inane or irrelevant. Since when were you required to have in-depth knowledge of the European Union to be British? Three of them are Mastermind General Knowledge questions (I got the divorce one wrong and the Muslims and children one right)!

 

[DK]

12/24. Dammit.

 

[PeterJB]

6/24. Beat that.

 

[dhandeh]

12/24, I will get my coat.