A TEACHER from Thornbury says she will boycott one of the town’s high street stores after staff refused to accept a Scottish £20 note.

Alice Bentley, who teaches at The Castle School, was shopping with her husband Peter for light bulbs at local hardware shop Hawkins when staff refused her money.

Mrs Bentley, who has lived in the town for 20 years, said it was the first time something like that had ever happened.

"I am from Scotland so return four or five times a year to see family and in 20 years I have never had my Scottish money refused in Thornbury," she said.

"I was shopping local as we are all encouraged to do and I was completely embarrassed by the incident. I don’t look like the type of person who would have forged notes.

"I am a British citizen, I am married to an Englishman, I pay my taxes, why should I have my money refused?"

The special needs co-ordinator said she now plans to boycott the hardware store until it changes its policy.

She said: "There is a strong Scottish contingency in Thornbury and I hope they will join me. There was no reason for that money to be refused."

However, management at Hawkins have defended their decision, saying they were following advice from their bank.

Irene Wilson, manager at the shop, said: "We would like to apologise to the customer but by law we do not have to accept Scottish notes.

"The problem with Scottish notes is we have had many forgeries over the years and the bank has told us we don’t have to take them."

According to the Bank of England, Scottish notes are not legal tender in England and Wales and it is down to the discretion of the trader whether they are accepted.

The bank said: "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."

Earlier this year Conservative MP David Mundell, shadow secretary for Scotland, tried to pass a private members bill in Westminster that would have made it legally binding for shops and businesses in England to accept Scottish banknotes.