A friend has been given quite a lot of Euro coinage that all adds up
to a fair amount whack (n.b. this is not a result of either money
laundering nor theft!), and was pondering on how he might be able to
spend it in London - he's not planning on travelling to Euroland for
some time to come (having just returned from an extended escapade),
and anyway likes to travel light.

Now I've got some vague notion that LU might accept Euros at one or
two central London stations, such as KXSP. I can't however find any
mention of this on the TfL website, and even if it was the case I can
imagine it might be notes only and not coins. Does anyone know
anything more than that? The idea of course was that he could top-up
his Oyster with all this spare change (perhaps over the course of more
than one transaction though!).

Anther suggestion I had was M&S, who I understand accept Euros - at
their central London stores at least, if not perhaps all their stores
- not sure whether they take coins though, and if they do I dunno
whether they'd be that keen on enormous quantities of them! Also yes I
believe McDonald's in central London accepts Euros, but the only thing
he'd really want from them is a coffee. Lastly, I know there are those
'CoinStar' machines - these are the machines you get in supermarkets
which accept and count up your (Sterling) shrapnel and then I think
give you a voucher for spending at the supermarket, whilst taking a
generous cut for themselves for all the hard work they do - well I
dunno if there are any such machines which accept and exchange Euro
coinage for Sterling around? I've got some very vague idea that they
might exist somewhere, though I'm sure the deal they do isn't a great
one.

So an on-topic question which degenerates into an off-topic one - but
I'm sure utl can handle that!

"Mizter T" wrote in message
...
A friend has been given quite a lot of Euro coinage that all adds up
to a fair amount whack (n.b. this is not a result of either money
laundering nor theft!), and was pondering on how he might be able to
spend it in London - he's not planning on travelling to Euroland for
some time to come (having just returned from an extended escapade),
and anyway likes to travel light.

Now I've got some vague notion that LU might accept Euros at one or
two central London stations, such as KXSP. I can't however find any
mention of this on the TfL website, and even if it was the case I can
imagine it might be notes only and not coins. Does anyone know
anything more than that? The idea of course was that he could top-up
his Oyster with all this spare change (perhaps over the course of more
than one transaction though!).

Anther suggestion I had was M&S, who I understand accept Euros - at
their central London stores at least, if not perhaps all their stores
- not sure whether they take coins though, and if they do I dunno
whether they'd be that keen on enormous quantities of them! Also yes I
believe McDonald's in central London accepts Euros, but the only thing
he'd really want from them is a coffee. Lastly, I know there are those
'CoinStar' machines - these are the machines you get in supermarkets
which accept and count up your (Sterling) shrapnel and then I think
give you a voucher for spending at the supermarket, whilst taking a
generous cut for themselves for all the hard work they do - well I
dunno if there are any such machines which accept and exchange Euro
coinage for Sterling around? I've got some very vague idea that they
might exist somewhere, though I'm sure the deal they do isn't a great
one.

So an on-topic question which degenerates into an off-topic one - but
I'm sure utl can handle that!

If you went to a branch of a Euro based bank I wonder if they would have
facilities? Mind you, having written that the thought that came to mind
was Santander and I can't see an Abbey branch even understanding the
question, much less actioning it.

On 25 July, 14:36, Mizter T wrote:
A friend has been given quite a lot of Euro coinage that all adds up
to a fair amount whack (n.b. this is not a result of either money
laundering nor theft!), and was pondering on how he might be able to
spend it in London - he's not planning on travelling to Euroland for
some time to come (having just returned from an extended escapade),
and anyway likes to travel light.

Now I've got some vague notion that LU might accept Euros at one or
two central London stations, such as KXSP. I can't however find any
mention of this on the TfL website, and even if it was the case I can
imagine it might be notes only and not coins. Does anyone know
anything more than that? The idea of course was that he could top-up
his Oyster with all this spare change (perhaps over the course of more
than one transaction though!).

Anther suggestion I had was M&S, who I understand accept Euros - at
their central London stores at least, if not perhaps all their stores
- not sure whether they take coins though, and if they do I dunno
whether they'd be that keen on enormous quantities of them! Also yes I
believe McDonald's in central London accepts Euros, but the only thing
he'd really want from them is a coffee. Lastly, I know there are those
'CoinStar' machines - these are the machines you get in supermarkets
which accept and count up your (Sterling) shrapnel and then I think
give you a voucher for spending at the supermarket, whilst taking a
generous cut for themselves for all the hard work they do - well I
dunno if there are any such machines which accept and exchange Euro
coinage for Sterling around? I've got some very vague idea that they
might exist somewhere, though I'm sure the deal they do isn't a great
one.

So an on-topic question which degenerates into an off-topic one - but
I'm sure utl can handle that!

What about a shop in a touristy area that happens to be a Ticket Stop?

In article ,
(Graham Harrison) wrote:

"Mizter T" wrote in message
...
A friend has been given quite a lot of Euro coinage that all adds up
to a fair amount whack (n.b. this is not a result of either money
laundering nor theft!), and was pondering on how he might be able to
spend it in London - he's not planning on travelling to Euroland for
some time to come (having just returned from an extended escapade),
and anyway likes to travel light.
....
If you went to a branch of a Euro based bank I wonder if they would
have facilities? Mind you, having written that the thought that
came to mind was Santander and I can't see an Abbey branch even
understanding the question, much less actioning it.

Sell them to me? I'm going to Paris next month.

--
Colin Rosenstiel

On 25 July, 14:55, Paul Corfield wrote:
On Sun, 25 Jul 2010 06:36:26 -0700 (PDT), Mizter T
wrote:

A friend has been given quite a lot of Euro coinage that all adds up
to a fair amount whack (n.b. this is not a result of either money
laundering nor theft!), and was pondering on how he might be able to
spend it in London - he's not planning on travelling to Euroland for
some time to come (having just returned from an extended escapade),
and anyway likes to travel light.

Now I've got some vague notion that LU might accept Euros at one or
two central London stations, such as KXSP. I can't however find any
mention of this on the TfL website, and even if it was the case I can
imagine it might be notes only and not coins. Does anyone know
anything more than that?

Yes Euros are accepted at a small number of LU stations. I will need to
do a little digging tomorrow to see how it works and then report back.

I've certainly seen signs to this effect at KXSP. I don't remember
whether they mentioned coins. Whether it is worth taking advantage of
this depends on the exchange rate.

PaulO

In message
,
Mizter T writes

A friend has been given quite a lot of Euro coinage that all adds up
to a fair amount whack (n.b. this is not a result of either money
laundering nor theft!), and was pondering on how he might be able to
spend it in London

It's possible that some of the shops in the Eurostar terminal at St
Pancras will accept euros - certainly when Eurostar was at Waterloo, the
branch of Boots in the station would take them. It might also be worth
checking if the KX/St Pancras ticket office would accept euros for the
same reason.

--
Paul Terry

On Jul 25, 2:50*pm, "Graham Harrison"
wrote:

"Mizter T" wrote:

A friend has been given quite a lot of Euro coinage that all adds up
to a fair amount whack (n.b. this is not a result of either money
laundering nor theft!), and was pondering on how he might be able to
spend it in London - he's not planning on travelling to Euroland for
some time to come (having just returned from an extended escapade),
and anyway likes to travel light.

Now I've got some vague notion that LU might accept Euros at one or
two central London stations, such as KXSP. I can't however find any
mention of this on the TfL website, and even if it was the case I can
imagine it might be notes only and not coins. Does anyone know
anything more than that? The idea of course was that he could top-up
his Oyster with all this spare change (perhaps over the course of more
than one transaction though!).

Anther suggestion I had was M&S, who I understand accept Euros - at
their central London stores at least, if not perhaps all their stores
- not sure whether they take coins though, and if they do I dunno
whether they'd be that keen on enormous quantities of them! Also yes I
believe McDonald's in central London accepts Euros, but the only thing
he'd really want from them is a coffee. Lastly, I know there are those
'CoinStar' machines - these are the machines you get in supermarkets
which accept and count up your (Sterling) shrapnel and then I think
give you a voucher for spending at the supermarket, whilst taking a
generous cut for themselves for all the hard work they do - well I
dunno if there are any such machines which accept and exchange Euro
coinage for Sterling around? I've got some very vague idea that they
might exist somewhere, though I'm sure the deal they do isn't a great
one.

So an on-topic question which degenerates into an off-topic one - but
I'm sure utl can handle that!

If you went to a branch of a Euro based bank I wonder if they would have
facilities? [...]

Banks, the PO and bureaux de change all only seem to deal with notes
when it comes to other currencies (and that includes the Euro), at
least when dealing with bog-standard customers.


[...] Mind you, having written that the thought that came to mind
was Santander and I can't see an Abbey branch even understanding the
question, much less actioning it.

They're that bad are they?! Santander gets a black mark in my book
anyway for introducing, or at least making popular, the concept of
dynamic currency conversion which helps to rip-off travellers across
Europe and the wider world.

On Jul 25, 2:55*pm, Paul Corfield wrote:

On Sun, 25 Jul 2010 06:36:26 -0700 (PDT), Mizter T
wrote:

A friend has been given quite a lot of Euro coinage that all adds up
to a fair amount whack (n.b. this is not a result of either money
laundering nor theft!), and was pondering on how he might be able to
spend it in London - he's not planning on travelling to Euroland for
some time to come (having just returned from an extended escapade),
and anyway likes to travel light.

Now I've got some vague notion that LU might accept Euros at one or
two central London stations, such as KXSP. I can't however find any
mention of this on the TfL website, and even if it was the case I can
imagine it might be notes only and not coins. Does anyone know
anything more than that?

Yes Euros are accepted at a small number of LU stations. I will need to
do a little digging tomorrow to see how it works and then report back.

Thanks Paul - I thought they were, but was a bit surprised that this
doesn't get a mention anywhere on the TfL website. Though perhaps not
promoting it is a good idea as it stops people relying upon it.

The crucial thing in this case is of course whether or not they take
coins as opposed to just notes - don't worry, if they did he wouldn't
take the mickey and turn up with loads at once, and he's not trying to
shift anything lower than the 50 cents coins either.

On Jul 25, 2:58*pm, MIG wrote:

On 25 July, 14:36, Mizter T wrote:

A friend has been given quite a lot of Euro coinage that all adds up
to a fair amount whack (n.b. this is not a result of either money
laundering nor theft!), and was pondering on how he might be able to
spend it in London - he's not planning on travelling to Euroland for
some time to come (having just returned from an extended escapade),
and anyway likes to travel light.

Now I've got some vague notion that LU might accept Euros at one or
two central London stations, such as KXSP. I can't however find any
mention of this on the TfL website, and even if it was the case I can
imagine it might be notes only and not coins. Does anyone know
anything more than that? The idea of course was that he could top-up
his Oyster with all this spare change (perhaps over the course of more
than one transaction though!).

[snip]

What about a shop in a touristy area that happens to be a Ticket Stop?

Er, maybe - though in general there aren't that many Ticket Stops in
central London. Perhaps somewhere like Greenwich - though whether
they'd really want a tonnage of coins is another matter, as presumably
there's a cost and/or hassle factor in handling them. Plus I can
imagine they might be wary of accepting it for Oyster top-ups.

Of course there's presumably a cost and/or hassle factor in LU
accepting Euro coinage too - but I assume it's still worth there while
(Paul C upthread confirms that there are a few LU stations that do
accept the Euro).

On Jul 25, 3:29*pm, wrote:

(Graham Harrison) wrote:

"Mizter T" wrote:
A friend has been given quite a lot of Euro coinage that all adds up
to a fair amount whack (n.b. this is not a result of either money
laundering nor theft!), and was pondering on how he might be able to
spend it in London - he's not planning on travelling to Euroland for
some time to come (having just returned from an extended escapade),
and anyway likes to travel light.
...
If you went to a branch of a Euro based bank I wonder if they would
have facilities? * Mind you, having written that the thought that
came to mind was Santander and I can't see an Abbey branch even
understanding the question, much less actioning it.

Sell them to me? I'm going to Paris next month.

Well finding someone to offload them to is of course a possibility, as
is just keeping them all for the time being. But I must admit the
problem, such as it is one, has piqued my interest - my first thought
was that spending Euros in London wouldn't be a problem at all, but
the fact it's all in coins means it's not so easy. (Though if M&S do
take Euro coins then I can imagine they might well be accommodating,
especially if it was at one of their two big Oxford Street stores and
was at a quieter time of day.)