Feeling Flush: 'Fake' Cash Put Down Toilet was Real

A Scottish businessman flushed hundreds of pounds in supposedly fake notes down the toilet, only to be told days later that they were genuine, a report said Monday.

The man, who asked not to be named, said he had obtained around £200 (226 Euros, $373) in £20 notes from an ATM on the Isle of Lewis off the north coast of Scotland, the Daily Telegraph reported.

The Royal Bank of Scotland and Bank of Scotland refused to accept them amid warnings of a suspected counterfeiting operation and the businessman tore them up and put them down the toilet.

But Inspector Robbie MacDonald, of the Northern Constabulary, said tests by Britain's Serious and Organized Crime Agency later discovered that they were genuine.

The businessman told the Telegraph that he blamed the banks for their "failure" to properly train staff on how to spot fake notes, adding that he had flushed the notes as a "public duty" to stop them getting back into circulation.

A spokesman for the Bank of Scotland said: "We found what we thought were inconsistencies with some banknotes and as a precaution we set these notes aside so they were no longer in circulation." They were then tested.