I was fined £100 at McDonald’s – delivery drivers made me break parking limit

A PENSIONER has been slapped with a £100 parking fine for eating too slowly at McDonald’s after a queue of delivery drivers delayed his group’s food.

Alan Bullock, 79, took his wife Jo, 79, and their 83-year-old friend to the fast food chain on 14 July for an enjoyable day out, but ended up with the hefty fine for outstaying the car park’s maximum limit.

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Alan, from Redbourn, Hertfordshire, told The Sun that he took the group on a trip out to the local restaurant “as I have regularly done before.”

When the trio arrived, they found that the self-service machines would not accept their discount vouchers and so they went to order at the till.

According to Alan, the restaurant was packed with “a lot of delivery meal drivers”, which delayed their food’s arrival for some time.

The group ordered a main, dessert and coffee at intervals.

All in all they had a hearty meal for just £15, but their stay at the restaurant lasted almost 2 hours because of service delays.

A week later Alan was slapped with a parking fine for overstaying the time limit in the McDonald’s car park by just 19 minutes.

He insists that the delay in service meant the 90 minute maximum stay was not enough time to eat “in comfort.”

A week later, he received a letter from MET Parking Services demanding a £100 fine, reduced to £50 if he paid straight away.

Alan outlined his dismay, saying: “I am completely shocked by this… fine as we only had our meal and as OAP’s we cannot eat as fast as youngsters.”

He added that he has been forced to pay the £50 rather than fight the fine because he can’t afford to pay it if it increases to £100.

In emails shown to The Sun, McDonald’s customer services told Alan “McDonald’s are unable to revoke parking tickets- the outcome of the appeal is final and cannot be overturned by McDonald’s.”

However, Alan does not accept that McDonald’s have no control over parking enforcement as it is their car park.

He added: “Maybe we should have ordered all the food and drink at the same time to save time, but we like to decide if we want to eat and drink more, after the meal.

“McDonald’s is not allowing enough time to eat meals in comfort. I think it is terrible that they can do this to OAP’s visiting their establishment to eat a meal.”

Alan concluded by saying he will not return to the restaurant unless the issue is resolved.

A McDonald’s spokesperson 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. 

“At this restaurant, the time limit is 90 minutes and we make this clear to our customers with signage in the car park. If a customer believes they have been issued a ticket incorrectly they should appeal as per the parking control company guidelines.”

A spokesperson for MET Parking Services said “If a motorist believes they were issued with a parking charge incorrectly, we would encourage them to follow our appeals process.

“Each and every appeal is investigated on its own merits and it’s important to provide us with as much information as possible so that we can consider any mitigating circumstances. 

“Should the motorist not be satisfied with the outcome they then have the opportunity to appeal to the independent appeals process, POPLA, which is a free and easy to use service.”

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