£100 coin legal tender?

[anonymous-user]

Bit of an odd incident here

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10133751/...

the daily mail said:

Man who was arrested for using £100 coin to pay for his fuel at a Tesco Extra garage is awarded £5,000 in damages by police

Video of the incident

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OJFNnJaw4Ws

The commemorative coin is legal tender but the shop doesn’t have to accept it and the police were wrong to arrest him?

'I always use the coins to buy my fuel. Morrisons, Asda and Sainsbury's have taken them but Tesco are always difficult', he told the Sun.

Is he buying these coins cheap on eBay or something and then trying to buy stuff for face value with them?

[gamefreaks]

Interesting. These coins seem to sell on eBay for about 10% below their face value.

If you can spend them legally, then good for him.

Though if someone tried to pay me with a £100 coin, I’d give you the change in Monopoly money!

[Iminquarantine]

4 hours of questioning at the station seems excessive.

But with a £5000 payout, he got 50x face value.

[BckFlash]

Just a bellend being a bellend for the sake of being a bellend in my opinion.

He has form for it and knows it will cause a stir...

And I agree - a waste of resources!

[anonymous-user]

Seems like an odd standoff, he pumps the petrol, then presents the commemorative coin as payment. Person working in the garage phones the boss and they give in and he gets the fuel cheap or they say “no we’re not accepting it” He says that’s all he’s got and it’s “legal tender” shop phones the police, he knows the rules and either gets the shop to give in or gets arrested and wins thousands in a payout.

What should the police have done here? They arrested him for “bilking” which is apparently driving off without paying. He argued that he didn’t drive off so it’s abuse of the police’s power.

The blokes solicitor’s take on it.

https://iaingould.co.uk/2021/10/15/devon-cornwall-...

Maybe the police (or whoever pays it) can pay his £5000 with commemorative coins bought on eBay?

Imagine being an employee having to deal with this sort of difficult customer.

Edited by anonymous-user on Wednesday 27th October 19:20

[Crumpet]

When two dheads meet, really. Everyone will have seen it in their own line of work - those who pretend they know what they’re talking about and will confidently spout bullst rather than accepting they don't know. Why can’t some people just accept they don’t know and go and find out the answer elsewhere? This could’ve been dealt with so much better.

[Gary C]

What an utter tosser.

[speedy_thrills]

With the way inflation is going £100 coin might be useful in a few years.

[survivalist]

BckFlash said:

Just a bellend being a bellend for the sake of being a bellend in my opinion.

He has form for it and knows it will cause a stir...

And I agree - a waste of resources!

The first line of your post could equally be applied to the cocky copper who thought he could bully the member of the public into using an alternative method of payment by using the face of the threat of arrest.

[anonymous-user]

What should the police have done here when the bloke didn’t drive off but said the coin is legal tender?

You can (or used to) get similar with Scottish notes in England especially when there used to be £1 Scottish notes. Legal tender but the shop doesn’t have to accept them. I think?

Obviously most normal people just accept that the shop doesn’t have to accept it and get some English cash or use their card etc and not be professional difficult customers.

[Iminquarantine]

Personally if I were the police, I would have checked out if the coin was legal tender before arresting the guy and interviewing him for 4 hours.

I didn’t know the answer before, but I found out in a few moments just now. 4 hours!!

[voyds9]

BckFlash said:

Just a bellend being a bellend for the sake of being a bellend in my opinion.

He has form for it and knows it will cause a stir...

And I agree - a waste of resources!

Or man increasing the knowledge of other people

In other circumstances we could him a teacher.

[anonymous-user]

voyds9 said:

Or man increasing the knowledge of other people

In other circumstances we could him a teacher.

At first I thought it was interesting that he’d possibly found some loophole but then I decided he was just being difficult and wasting everyone’s time.

[Stuzza]

Iminquarantine said:

Personally if I were the police, I would have checked out if the coin was legal tender before arresting the guy and interviewing him for 4 hours.

I didn’t know the answer before, but I found out in a few moments just now. 4 hours!!

Legal tender is not relevant here... as shops don't have to accept it.

[anonymous-user]

Could this coin be deposited at the bank for £100?

[survivalist]

Stuzza said:

Iminquarantine said:

Personally if I were the police, I would have checked out if the coin was legal tender before arresting the guy and interviewing him for 4 hours.

I didn’t know the answer before, but I found out in a few moments just now. 4 hours!!

Legal tender is not relevant here... as shops don't have to accept it.

That’s not the point. By not specifying what they were / were not willing to accept as payment at the point of purchase (the pump), they aren’t able to dictate terms later on.

The policeman in question seemed unable to grasp this simple concept. Had been able to do so, I image he could have told both parties that is was a civil matter and got back to doing something productive. Sadly ego seems to have got in the way of logic in his case .

[Vanden Saab]

Stuzza said:

Iminquarantine said:

Personally if I were the police, I would have checked out if the coin was legal tender before arresting the guy and interviewing him for 4 hours.

I didn’t know the answer before, but I found out in a few moments just now. 4 hours!!

Legal tender is not relevant here... as shops don't have to accept it.

Tescos head office had already confirmed in writing that they would accept the coin as payment...

[Biggy Stardust]

Man was arrested & detained for committing no crime. Arresting dude didn't think to check the facts presented to him.

Compensation for the hassle seems reasonable. If the police don't like it then they can stop arresting people for committing no crime.

[Jamescrs]

Iminquarantine said:

4 hours of questioning at the station seems excessive.

But with a £5000 payout, he got 50x face value.

He wouldn't have been questioned for 4 hours, that's Daily Mail B.S

He may have been in custody for 4 hours from the time of arrest to release again but that would have included time waiting in a holding area to book in, time processing, time doing fingerprints and DNA, time waiting for a Solicitor to attend, disclosure time, consultation time etc.

I bet the actual interview was 20-30 minutes at the most.

I believe the compensation payout for an unlawful arrest is £1000 per hour, so I'd guess he was detained for just over 4 hours and they rounded up.

[Nimby]

There's a good explanation of legal tender on the Bank of England site.
The legal situation on accepting payment is not what many think.