Making Legal Tender Work For The Public - NOW!

The current definition of "Legal Tender",as set out by the Bank of England, is not fit for purpose.

Here's what the Bank of England has to say on their website:

"Legal Tender has a narrow technical meaning which has no use in everyday life. It means that if you offer to fully pay off a debt to someone in Legal Tender, they can’t sue you for failing to repay."

"No use in everyday life"? They are correct.

IT IS AN ALMOST TOTALLY USELESS DEFINITION.

We need a redefinition - IMMEDIATELY - stating that ALL banknotes and Royal Mint coins produced in the UK are Legal Tender throughout the UK and that their being Legal Tender means they MUST be accepted for any in-person payment.

I AM CALLING ON ALL PARTIES -  Government, Treasury and Bank of England - to get their act together to push this through before the end of 2019, AT THE VERY LATEST.

In the meantime, if you want to thwart any table service restaurant from imposing daft "cashless" on you, here is a fun way.

Simply order your meal and eat it.

Then, when the bill is presented to you, offer them cash. 

When they say they don't accept cash, tell them that you hadn't noticed they had such a daft policy. Tell them that since you were unaware of it, you are entitled to rely on the Bank of England definition of legal tender. 

Then, if they still will not accept your cash, you can just leave it on the table.

Actually, you could just walk out without leaving the cash, although I would, of course, not advocate such a course of action.

If they have refused to accept the cash, they cannot sue you - because you have met the criteria of the Bank of England published definition of Legal Tender!

WHAT FUN YOU WILL HAVE - at least until we have the revised definition of Legal Tender in place!

Enjoy your meal  - and even MORE enjoy making clear to businesses that try to dictate to the UK Public that it is COMPLETELY UNACCEPTABLE and we will NOT accept ANY business telling us we cannot have the right of Payment Choice.

 

 

Wednesday, 29th May 2019

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