A GREEK hotel is refusing to exchange tourists’ pounds after the Brexit vote sent the currency into turmoil.
Since the result of the referendum was announced early this morning the pound has dropped to a 31 year low.
But now it seems the vote is having an immediate effect on holidaymakers – who are unable to exchange their pounds for euros.
The sign – at the Blue Lagoon Resort on the island of Kos – reads: “We would like to inform you that we cannot exchange British or Scottish pounds at the moment, as we do not have an official exchange rate from the central bank.”
The image was posted online by Matt Rooney.
He captioned the image: “We’re in Greece – no cash exchange or cash machine withdrawals for Brits. #Brexit fail.”
Online other social media users reacted strongly to the news.
One wrote: “The awkward moment where the currency is so volatile even the Greeks won’t trade in it.”
One user posted the image alongside the caption: “you know you’re screwed when Greece does not accept your money.”
Another was more positive, writing: “You can’t put a price on freedom”
A spokesperson for the Blue Lagoon Resort said: “Following yesterdays’ UK Referendum the Greek National Bank delayed its announcement of today’s currency exchange rate between the UK pound and the euro.
“As a result, we posted the attached notice in order to avoid any inconvenience to our guests.
“An hour after this, we received from the Bank the exchange rate and normal operations resumed.”
The Greek economy has been in crisis for the past several years.
In 2012, the country launched the largest sovereign default in world history.
A sovereign default is the failure of a state to pay back its debt in full.
In 2015, its public debt was reported to be €323 billion and it received a bailout from Eurozone countries of around €60 billion.
