In message , Robin May
writes

My girlfriend's cousin visited from America last year and I was pretty
surprised to find on the day he arrived and I tried to use his money to
buy a tube ticket for him that he'd been issued an old style £20 note.
Are banks and bureau de changes allowed to do this? And do they do it
in the UK as well as in America?

A UK-based bank or BdeC shouldn't issue outdated notes, but clearly
there are those overseas which don't seem to either know or care.
--
Roland Perry