Can a tourist exchange old 20 and 50 Pound notes at the post offices?

Upvote:1

Some post offices are within other shops. My local corner shop (in Surrey, UK) includes a post office counter. They have a notice about exchange of old paper notes. I do not recall the full details, but in part it says that they will accept paper money but only to pay into a bank account (*). It also says that to exchange old notes for new requires paying into a bank accound plus a cash withdrawel from a bank account.

If you do not have a UK bank account then I would recommend finding a main post office, not a post office counter within another shop.

(*) Post offices now allow payments into and withdrawels from bank accounts. This facility appears to have been introduced at the same time as many high street bank branches have closed.

Upvote:6

I suspect the only definitive answers will come from experience, that said when I look at the post office and bank of england sites ( https://www.postoffice.co.uk/banknote-exchange and https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/banknotes/exchanging-old-banknotes ) I make the following observations.

I don't see any mention of "proof of address" on the post office site and on the bank of England site proof of address is only mentioned in relation to exchanges directly with the bank of England, not to exchanges at the post office.

That said, if one looks at the list of accepted "proof of address", some of them are official government documents, but many are not. Bank statements, credit card bills. There does not seem to be any stipulation that the address or the bank have to be in the UK.

Upvote:7

I tried last week in the Edinburgh City Post Office, and they exchanged the old notes without even asking for the passport or recording any data.

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