A FURIOUS motorist told how he was slapped with a £50 fine for exceeding the time limit in the car park outside McDonald’s by around 10 minutes.
Marcus Ward has hit out at the fast food chain and warned other families not to be caught out by the “trap”.
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The time limit in the car park outside Walsgrave McDonald’s, in Coventry, was 90 minutes, and the Ward family returned just 16 minutes late.
The car park is owned by private company UK Parking Control.
The 35-year-old told Coventry Live: “You have got a soft play at that McDonald’s so you are going to be there for a lot longer than a normal McDonald’s.
“If you break down how long it takes a parent to get kids out of the car, change them, feed them, and soft play, it is definitely over an hour and a half.”
Marcus claimed they were totally unaware of the time limit and did not notice any signage.
He said: “It is a hell of a lot of money for using a facility that has a car park.
“I have lived in Coventry all my life and I never knew that car park had a time limit.
“Everything is almost set up for you to fail and be caught by this trap. It is unbelievable.”
The furious dad-of-two has been determined to overturn the PCN, and began his appeal in August 2022.
He claimed he contacted UK Parking Control in the days after being handed the fine but heard no response.
“I contested it straight away rightly so for the reasons of two young kids, soft play and an hour and a half is not that much time in the grand scheme of things and my wife used the facility,” Marcus added.
“It is not like she has parked up at that McDonald’s and gone over the road which is what that sort of system is in place for, but it is obvious to me that it is in place to scam people out of hard-earned cash.”
With the outraged dad refusing to pay, the penalty has increased to £170 and his battle will have to be fought in court.
He claimed he would pay the fine if his family had used the car park to visit another shop – but insisted they were not trying to ignore the rules.
He said: “I am so strongly against paying it morally, I am digging my heels in and standing by my principles.
“I am fed up now because every time I do get a letter through I get angry.
“It puts me in a bit of a mood for the next couple of hours. I get wound up about it because it is fair and unjust. It is absolutely shocking.
“It is basically like getting mugged but somehow legally.”
Marcus warned other families who visit Walsgrave McDonald’s for the soft play to stop them being “‘caught out by the trap”.
He said: “I was not aware of this trap so I do not think most people are.
“It all seems a bit sly and underhand, they all put a sign up but it will probably be tiny and you are not going to see it unless you are looking for it.”
A spokesman for McDonald’s said: “We have parking restrictions in place at a number of our restaurants, with a time limit to ensure there is adequate parking for all of our customers.
“Ample signage regarding these restrictions is clearly displayed both as you drive into the car park, on various lampposts within it and inside of the restaurant.
“We work with industry-approved contractors who use the cameras, which have been in place for some time, to ensure customers are within the 90-minute limits.”
UK Parking Control has been contacted for comment.
This comes as other motorists have been caught out by McDonald’s parking rules.
Reports have emerged that visitors to the fast food restaurant on Newmarket Road, Cambridge, have been slapped with several penalty notices after they exceeded the 90-minute parking time limit.
One man who has been hit by a fine says he was penalised for “eating his food too slowly”.
Shapour Meftah was fined £100 for exceeding the time limit, he said: “It was parking from hell – the most expensive McDonald’s I’ve ever had.
“There’s no sign inside McDonald’s that says you have 90 minutes to sit down, eat and go. You don’t want to rush your meal and we ordered quite a bit of food”.”
The advice from MoneySavingExpert says if you get a ticket from a private parking firm which you believe is unfair, don’t just pay it automatically.
An extract on their website states: “Private parking companies have no official right to fine you, though they may try to make you think they do.
“All they’re doing is sending you a notice of what they deem to be a breach of contract.
“It isn’t the ability of private companies to issue tickets in itself that’s a problem though. It’s the unstructured system which puts unnecessary power in potentially unscrupulous hands”.
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