Scottish Money

For those who haven't visited Scotland (why not), we have 3 different bank notes for each denomination. All of them different from the English ones in design, but worth the same amount. This dates from the days that private British banks could issue their own notes, and while the law in England and Wales eventually prevented the practice there, 3 Scottish and 4 Northern Irish Banks retain the right.

I always think this must confuse visitors, although the general colour scheme has been similar for each denomination across the 3 designs. But now there are a couple of new factors:

- The Bank of Scotland notes since 2007 are really different from what we are used to in the UK (more like Euros), so an assorted handful of Scottish currency looks even more varied than before.
- Two of the banks have been bailed out by the government in the recent banking crisis to stop them going bust. Good thing they print someone else's money, they don't have any of their own.