Driver is hit with £100 parking fine for visiting the same McDonald’s twice in one day
- Spencer Barclay received the £100 fine days after visiting a McDonald’s twice
- The 52-year-old said the fine claims he was parked up for more than eight hours
- But he says he had driven to work in that time and parked near his office for free
- The dad-of-one says he has contacted the company to complain about the fine
A father-of-one has been left disgusted after he received a £100 parking fine – for visiting the same McDonald’s branch twice in one day.
Spencer Barclay visited the fast-food restaurant at the Metro Retail Park in Gateshead to get a coffee before work, and then returned later in the day to collect a happy meal for his six-year-old son.
The 52 year old, from Benwell, Newcastle said he stopped in the popular chain at 8.25am on Friday June 24 and stopped in the car park to drink his purchase before going to work at nearby Metropolitan House where he left his car in their free car park.
Spencer Barclay received the £100 parking fine which claimed he had parked up at the popular fast food chain for over eight hours
He thought nothing later on of revisiting the restaurant, located near the Metrocentre just after 5pm the same day to collect the takeaway meal.
But days later he received a parking fine from UKPC which claimed he had been parked up at the eatery for eight hours and 43 minutes.
The fine showed images of his Ford Galaxy, which cameras had captured arriving at 8.25am and leaving at 5.09pm.
In the letter, Mr Barclay, a software consultant, is told he will receive a 50 per cent early pay discount if he pays up within 14 days. Beyond that point, he will owe the full £100.
He said he has issued a complaint to the parking firm but has not received 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.
Spencer has issued a complaint to the parking firm but has not received a response
The sign clearly states drivers can only stay at the McDonald’s car park for 90 minutes max
‘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.’
Source: Read Full Article