McDonald’s 20 minute time limit leaves one drive-thru customer fuming

Chicken Selects, fries and a milkshake cost one McDonald’s customer nearly £200 after he got a parking fine.

Married dad-of-two, Ed Chatterton, 42, was handed the substantial bill after stopping at the fast food branch in Walsall, West Midlands.

Chatterton did not realise there were restrictions in place which means there is only 20 minutes free parking at the McDonald’s.

By the time he got through the busy drive-thru, he only had five or ten minutes to finish his meal in his car.

Ed only learnt about the fine when debt collectors wrote to him saying he now owed almost £200 for staying 14 minutes over the limit on Friday July 25.

Trace Debt Recovery are leading suppliers in the recovery of unpaid private parking charge notices, penalty charge notices, road tolls and business-to-business debts.

He’s now been threatened with court proceedings despite claiming he received no notification of the fine in the post – until debt collectors got in touch last week.

The letter from Trace said the original fine was £60 but had risen to £170 and now possible legal action for failing to pay.

Ed, from Aldridge, said: ‘It’s the most expensive McDonald’s I’ve ever had.

‘You don’t mind paying £170 for a slap-up meal in a fancy restaurant with the family but this was just for some Chicken Selects, fries and a milkshake.

‘I feel 20 minutes is an unreasonable timeframe in which to expect drive-thru customers to eat their meal within – you can easily be queuing for that time.’

He has done this multiple times at different branches with no problems before which is why it was so surprising to him.

Ed would have paid the original £60 fine but he had not received the notice in the post.

An Ocean Parking representative said: ‘We have proof of postage for both letters. In the absence of any response or payment, as is standard process, the PCN was referred to Trace for debt recovery on 11th September, who contacted the driver directly.

‘It is possible that the driver’s details were not up to date with the DVLA, as correspondence was sent to their vehicle’s registered address.’

A spokesperson for McDonald’s stated that they have different parking restrictions at a number of their restaurants to ensure adequate parking availability for all customers.

‘At this restaurant [Walsall branch] the time limit is 20 minutes, and we make this clear to our customers through signage in the car park and inside the restaurant.

‘If a customer feels they have been wrongly ticketed, we would encourage them to get in touch with the third party contractor who issued the ticket by way of appeal.’

Ed has since been back to the McDonald’s branch and has seen signage up elsewhere in the car park but not where he was sat.

Trace Debt Recovery have been contacted for comment.

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