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Scots McCoo artist Steve Brown has gone to war with Greggs after staff at an English store took away his lunch while he was eating it in a row over his Scottish banknote.

Steve, whose illustrations of colourful cows are globally renowned, was at Greggs in Solihull when he paid for his meal with a Scottish £20 note.

Although staff appeared happy to accept it at first at the till point the painter was then approached at his table outside while he and his friend were eating. Steve claims they took away some of the food and drink he had bought after saying they could no longer accept his money.

(Image: Facebook)

In a series of Facebook videos the outraged artist revealed how he felt 'discriminated against' by staff and management.

Steven, who is seen frantically tucking into a sausage roll before it is also swiped from his hands, said: "We are supposed to be one country. We have just been discriminated at Greggs Solihull.

"We tried to pay by a Scottish note, got told you can't pay by that and our food got taken away from us from the table outside."

He then said: "You wouldn't believe this. They took the food away from us. We gave them a Scottish note. My friend Craig paid for it and three of the staff were talking about it. I'm going to quickly eat my sausage roll before she takes it away.

(Image: Steve Brown/Facebook)

"She just came out there and took away the food and said she's not accepting the £20 note.

"The manager said it too. I've never ever had a problem with Greggs in my life. I love the food. I'm always in it. They took away my orange juice, my cheese and onion pasty which I love and and his coffee. Well need it go to the bank and get some English money. Is that not unbelievable? It's racism."

Steve's friend Craig had already drunk some of the cappuccino that was taken away.

(Image: Facebook)

An enraged Steve then decided to seek some revenge by purchasing a blank canvas from a nearby The Works stationary shop.

He put it in front of the Greggs shop and wrote on it: "Greggs Solihull. Sorry we only accept English money, not Scottish."

Steven who now says he's waiting to hear from Head Office said: "We've been racially discriminated against. The Works accepted our Scottish money. Be careful guys when you go to Greggs. I'll tell you what. I'll not go back and I'm a good customer."

A Greggs spokesperson said: “This incident should never have happened and we are really sorry that we let our customer down.

"All of our shops should accept Scottish notes and we have contacted them all today to remind them to ensure this does not happen again.”