Mohammad Yousef, 48, said he was denied service at Poundworld (Picture: Mercury)

A man has accused Poundworld of racism after staff accepted a Scottish banknote from a white man but not from him.

Mohammad Yousef, 48, claims he went to a store in Rochdale but he only had a Scottish £20 note and they would not accept it.

Moments later, he said a white Irish man at the next checkout paid with a Scottish note and didn’t have any problems.

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Poundworld have apologised to Mohammad however claim that due a rise in counterfeit Scottish notes they may not accept any notes they cannot validate.

Mohammad said: ‘I’m feeling very, very upset. I feel let down that this has happened. This was a racist incident – I have no doubt. He was a white guy and I am Asian.



‘When I went to pay with the £20 Scottish note, the checkout operator started looking at the note then another member of staff looked too and said “sorry sir, we can’t accept that note because there’s no way to check it”.

‘She’d just checked it in front of me with her light. I asked her if Poundworld didn’t provide her with the right equipment and she told me not to twist her words and just said “I’ve made my mind up”.

Poundworld said there had been a rise int he number of counterfeits in the region (Picture: Mercury)

‘At the same time, on the other checkout, a white Irish man was paying with a Scottish note too and that was accepted without any problems.’

Mohammad added: ‘This town is very multicultural and we stand shoulder to shoulder here, but Poundworld haven’t done that.

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‘I love my community and I was upset. I thought, “why me?” ‘Poundworld clearly states that they do accept Scottish notes. I complained and I think she needs more training.

‘I told her in the shop I would be taking it to the next stage. The management hasn’t done what they are supposed to do.

‘I know exactly how things are operated by businesses because I also have my own business.

‘They obviously haven’t acted upon the protocol which they were supposed to.’

A spokesperson for Poundworld said: ‘Everyone is welcome at Poundworld so we take any allegations of this nature extremely seriously.

‘Over the last few months, our stores across the North West have encountered a number of issues with counterfeit Scottish £20 notes.

‘As a result, stores are on heightened alert and are carrying out additional checks when they come across one.

‘If a note cannot be validated, it may not be accepted, however, affected customers will be offered the chance to pay for their goods via other means.

‘We apologise to our customer for any inconvenience caused.’