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?

If you mean the notes with the picture of Michael Faraday (rather than
Elgar) they ceased to be legal tender on 28 Feb 2001 and so certainly
should not have been issued to anyone in 2003.

--
Paul Terry