COSTA Coffee has been branded “absolutely ridiculous” after the business banned Scottish banknotes across its Northern Ireland stores, The National can reveal.
Bosses at the coffee chain have instructed staff not to accept any Scottish £20 notes, with branches also displaying posters at their tills warning customers that the legal tender will not be accepted.
One customer shared a picture with The National of a counter at Costa’s Omagh store with a poster which reads, “We do not accept £20 Scottish notes” along with an image of a Bank of Scotland £20 note.
A spokesperson for Costa Coffee said the ban on Scottish £20 notes was due to “concerns about an increase in counterfeit currency in wider circulation”.
However, one customer told The National they believed it was a “totally ridiculous situation” and that they had “never come across” any store not accepting Scottish notes in Northern Ireland.
“I was just totally taken aback when I saw this poster in Costa last week,” Howard Allen told The National.
Allen explained he had ventured into his local Costa, where he spotted the poster at the till stating staff were not accepting Scottish £20 notes.
The 64-year-old, who regularly travels between Scotland and Northern Ireland, said that he used to occasionally have notes from Northern Ireland rejected in Scotland, but had never seen it happen the other way around.
“It's never been a problem,” Allen said.
He added: “It’s the total opposite of what I was used to, I'd never come across that in Northern Ireland before, the fact that nobody would accept a Scottish note.
“I thought it was just absolutely ridiculous.”
Allen said, although he wasn’t paying by cash, he was still not happy about the principle of Scottish notes not being accepted.
He added that when he asked a young lady behind the till about the poster, she told him that the staff didn’t know much about the decision and that it had “just come through” from their management.
Allen said: “I just couldn't believe it when I saw this poster in Costa not accepting Scottish notes at all, just a totally ridiculous situation.”
He added he is “back and forth quite a bit” from Scotland as he has daughters that live in Edinburgh and Fife, and said he was “thankful” the days of him having trouble getting his money from Northern Ireland accepted in Scotland were long gone.
“It was quite amusing to actually see it reversed over here in Northern Ireland,” Allen said.
A Costa Coffee spokesperson has apologised to customers for any “inconvenience” the decision may cause and has encouraged people to use alternative payment methods.
They said: "In Northern Ireland, our Costa Coffee stores are temporarily not accepting Scottish £20 notes due to concerns about an increase in counterfeit currency in wider circulation.
“This is a precautionary measure, and we are keeping our approach under regular review.
“We’re sorry for any inconvenience this may cause and appreciate our customers’ understanding, encouraging the use of alternative payment methods where possible.”
