ALISON Dewar, newly arrived in Hongkong from Scotland, decided to move a chunk of her savings to the territory.
So she went to that popular Scottish-run finance house, Hongkong and Shanghai Bank, with GBP500 (about HK$5,500) in cash.
Ms Dewar, of Discovery Bay, asked to open a sterling account at the bank's HQ.
The teller looked at the five GBP100 banknotes, which were Scottish pound notes, and refused to accept them. ''We only take English ones,'' she said.
''But these are sterling notes, and I want to put them in a sterling account,'' said Alison.
The foreign currency accounts department flatly refused to accept the notes, and said she should get them changed.
So she went to the currency changing desk. They changed them into Hongkong dollars, which were then used to buy English pounds to put into her sterling account.