London Mayor Boris Johnston has told the city’s bus drivers to accept Scottish banknotes. The issue over whether notes from Scottish banks are legal tender came to light recently when a journalist had his 5 refused by a London bus driver. Daily Telegraph Scottish editor Alan Cochrane wrote a column about his recent experience, where he and his family were forced to “scrape together” some change to pay for the bus fare. He wrote an email about the issue to Mr Johnston, who responded by stating that he had sent a note to the transport department to “remind all drivers operating out of the bus garage of this route that Scottish bank notes are legal tender to ensure this does not happen again.” On Wednesday’s Scotland Tonight, Mr Cochrane said that his family were “very annoyed” and found the experience “very embarrassing”. He stated that the problems over whether Scottish banknotes are accepted south of the border could “give rise to a feeling that the English have got it in for us.” As a committed unionist Mr Cochrane said he did not want this, before adding: “You could say [himself and Mr Johnston] have done more for Scotland than Alex Salmond has as First Minister.”

