A father of one was angry after receiving a £100 parking fee for visiting the same McDonald’s branch twice in one day.
Spencer Barclay stopped by the fast-food restaurant at the Metro Retail Park in Gateshead before work to have a coffee, then returned later in the day to pick up a happy meal for his six-year-old son.
The 52-year-old from Benwell, Newcastle, said he stopped at the popular chain at 8.25 a.m. on Friday, June 24, and drank his purchase before going to work at adjacent Metropolitan House, where he parked his car in their free parking.
He had no intention of returning to the restaurant near the Metrocentre just after 5 p.m. the same day to pick up the takeaway lunch.
However, he received a parking notice from UKPC claiming he had been parked at the restaurant for eight hours and 43 minutes.
The fine included photographs of his Ford Galaxy, which had been recorded by cameras arriving at 8.25am and leaving at 5.09pm.
Mr. Barclay, a software consultant, is assured in the letter that if he pays up within 14 days, he would earn a 50% early pay discount. He will owe the entire £100 after that.
He stated that he filed a complaint with the parking company but has yet to receive a response.
‘It’s absolutely disgusting’, he said. ‘It’s just blatantly designed to try and get money out of people – it’s extortion! This can clearly happen to anybody.
‘I think they have got a camera that photographs you but the camera is a snap shot in time. It photographs you coming in and leaving and that’s fine but what if you visit twice? If you visit McDonald’s twice in a day you can get £100 fine – that can’t be right!
‘How many other people have been unfairly treated for going for a happy meal?
‘It’s absolutely infuriating. They have got the photograph of me in the morning and at night but nothing in between. I want to see the video evidence to show I was in that car park for the whole of the day.
‘The first thing I said was, ‘The information is wrong. I arrived at that time and I left at that time but you’ve got to be a complete moron if you park in that car park and walk to work where there’s a free car park’. I have said to them take me to court.
A spokesperson for McDonald’s said: ‘We are sorry to hear about this customer’s experience.
‘The car park at our Metro Retail Park restaurant is run by a third party provider and we have made them aware of this issue. We understand that if the customer contacts the provider directly, their case will be considered under the appeals process.’