Big charges with your Big Mac

A similar situation happened to us 2 years ago. Parked at a [restaurant removed] in Christchurch, Dorset. The restaurant was very busy so we apparently over stayed the free limit. A week later we recieved a PCN for £225. The company was [company removed] Having done some research on the internet we've managed to get out of paying it. Lots of letters were sent from them to us and we wrote back basically saying we were'nt going to paythe "fine" as it was actually an invoice covered by contract law in which they could not issue a fine! We haven't hear anything from them for over a year now! Result!

I went to the MacDonalds restaurant at Gatwick airport. I had my breakfast there, and then had a further breakfast because I was still peckish. About a week later, I received a fine of £75 for staying in their car park too long!! I challenged this, but they couldn't care less saying I should have seen the sign. Theyt told me that they had the power to overturn this decision, but the had decided not too. I will never use a MacDonalds restaurant again, and I would warn other customers to watch out ...

I too have been fined at the macdonalds in hounslow middx. It was my daughters birthday party and our registration numbers where written in a book....two weeks later i received a fine of £50 with a picture of my car entering and leaving the car park. i called macdonalds who said thay would cancel the ticket....i have just received another letter stating that the fine has now increased to £100! macdonalds are now saying that i have to deal with the parking company...not them. its disgusting...

Miriam:

That is good news for both parties.....

(D)

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I have experienced a similar situation. Was visiting friends in Forfar, Scotland. The McDonalds restaurant is at the side of the dual carrige way, no where near a shopping mall, airport or any type of shops. Stopped there to have lunch with our 2 Kids and friends. As with all kids they wanted there meal then to draw an also ice cream, as it was a day out we decided yes lets have a treat so they had all of the above. What was an enjoyable day out for everyone soon turned into a not so good day out. FOr just over a week later we received through the post a parking fine stating that we should pay £100 within 24 days or incur further charges. However if we were to pay before the 24 days they would gladly accept £50. Contacted both McDonalds and the parking company who in not so many words stated they were not interested in our complaint but if we were to put it in writing they would look into it.

Hi In your progam your visited a mcdonalds to generate a bill to MET
sorry but this is flawed due to fact that you used a vintage car
most ANPR automatic number plate cameras do not work with the old black background and white letters on that old number plate
LOL theres hope for us all yet !!

great program

Andy

We had the same problem at the leytonstone branch. Invited to a children's party which lasted longer than the parking allowance. The length of the time of the party was on the invitation and was organised by mcdonalds staff. Paid up the £50, will we ever see it again? staff just washed their hands of it. corporate idiocy and slaw-jaw IT implemention :-(

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I had an identical situation to those on the film. Myself and my children were travelling back to Stansted from France. My husband was collecting us and couldnt wait to get a mcdonalds so went in beforehand. We then all went back about 30 mins later. We had first contact from MET 3 months later! The letter only said we had broken the rules, but did not state exactly what rules. I wrote back to them immediately to explain as having checked their site, they only had 2 pics of my car rather than 4 (i.e. in and out twice). They wrote back and said I was making it up and refused my appeal!! I then researched them online and found a wealth of info including that they have no legal enforcement rights so I have not paid. The last I heard was from their 'solicitors'. 2 letters in one week and nothing since. I believe they oporate on the law of averages. Their business model would rely on 40% paying the initial £50 fine and maybe mopping up a further 10 - 20% when they up it as people wont take the risk. I also wrote to mcdonalds who told me it was nothing to do with them and we shouldnt have broken the rules!!!! I have the letter. Havent eaten there since and never will again.

[Unsuitable/Broken URL removed by Moderator]

or google MET parking stansted

enjoy :)

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I also incurred a parking fine from MET Parking Services for eating at the Oakenshaw branch of McDonalds in Redditch, Worcs. I was meeting up with 2 friends for a get-together with all our children (these usually take about 1½ hours). I didn't notice the signs on the way in as the carpark was extremely busy and I had to get my two children into the restaurant safely. I met one friend inside, then we had to wait for the other one as she'd been delayed. After she turned up we all ordered our food, caught up on gossip, children played, had pudding, had fruit bags, had more drinks, food etc - you can imagine that all this took a while but we were having a great time and didn't know that we'd be penalised for enjoying a meal in there so when I opened my mail 2 weeks later you can imagine my surprise. I have written to McD Customer Services Manager (Stephen Bennett) but he states that he is unable to deal with any specifics or cases on an individual basis! The Franchisee Owner also hasn't been in touch with me, despite the fact that I have a letter stating that he would be contacting me within 3-5 days from 16th April!
I have no intention of paying this ludicrous fine as all I did was take my children for a McDonalds and if this is wrong then I'd like to know just what is right in this stupid world!

I too had a "invoice" from [removed]. After googling info to go to court I found the consumer action groupp website and after reading about parking "fines" I ignored it and got the standard 6 letters all threatening and then never heard a thing. If they took me to court they would LOSE. Same at McDonalds, they was a local issue at gatwick a few years ago but they should have ignored it. Private companies CANNOT issue a fine. Just threatening spam/junk mail.

I am surprised at watchdog tonight as it made the woman that ignored it, that the fine just went up. It would have stopped and your credit rating cannot be affected, in fact all what they threaten is rubbish under contract law.

In fact I drove into McD at Gatwick today (in the bosses car)!!! twice just to get a ticket. I eagerly await the post!

Same thing happens from parking eye monitoring [company edited] oin reigate and thousands of places all over the UK.

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The team member with the historic vehicle (1972 and earlier) should be aware of the difficulties NPR cameras
may have with black-on-white registration marks.

This may have been the real reason for the lack of a penalty charge notice.

People,

You almost certainly don't need to pay these parking charges!

I got one a few months back in MacD's in Hayes (Middx)and after a bit of research sent MET parking a letter quoting the exact terms in the BPA code of conduct that they are in direct breach of (the same BPA code that they claim in their letters they are acting in accordance with). Heard nothing since. To be honest you don't even need to do that, these guys operate on VERY dubious terms and they know it. Be strong, ignore them, and rest assured you're in the right!

As for MacD's, I'm no longer a customer.

Such a charge is an unlawful penalty and cannot be enforced, nor is a contract likely to be formed at all in this situation.

They will send some very threatening and official looking letters, but no court, bailiffs, or credit reference entry is involved. It's all bluff.

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In the car park of a well known supermarket in my town are signs that inform the driver that he/she has 1hr 30min parking time, calculated from time of entry, with no return for FOUR hours if the driver exits the car park!
I did receive a penalty notice a few years ago, with a fuzzy pic of a car that resembled the one I owned at that time, and a date and time of car park entry, and the time of my alleged exit, but no exit pic. After scanning the letter into my computer and then zooming the pic of the car registration plate, it was totally impossible to read as the photo was so poor.
I responded to their notice by informing them of the fact that they had absolutely no proof that the car was mine as the photo was so poor as to make the number plate unreadable, and blowing the pic up made it worse. I even included a copy of the photo as proof.
Guess what? they didn't bother me again.

It's appalling that these parking companies can use the threat of CCJ's and bailiffs for such a trivial thing as extended McDonalds parking. I thought it was a shame that the report didn't explain that this is all made possible by the DVLA selling our data to these unregulated parking management companies such as MET. As you might imagine, I too have been caught by this and was asked to pay £200 for my custom. I’m sure since then, McDonalds has lost more business than £200 from me.

Guess what, Macdonalds have employed another company in Newcastlee called [company removed] I contacted Macdonalds when I received a parking charge notice for £120....yes £120 for overstaying my welcome by 10 minutes. I contacted them and they couldn't have been less helpful, in fact I thought they where quite enjoying my frustration. Very threatening letters followed when I didn't pay. I'm up to 6 letters now with County Court Action looming. I would suggest you all look at this web site....It's clean and gives great advice.....[URL removed]
I reckoned up how much Macdonalds will lose in trade from me this year..its £500. My family (kids) would have spent similar amounts, all of my family, friends, colleagues, every one I meet....anyone who will listen...I tell them my story and I think Macdonalds will be out of pocket by a substantial amount of money for now and for as long as I keep getting threatening letters. Vote with your feet and go elsewhere.....

Two further issues that Watchdog could have dealt with -
1, Even for an brief overstay not involving a return visit, the scale of charges is extremely excessive.
2, The ability of a private parking company to access the DVLA database via ANPR to obtain private addresses.

The reason Ronald MacDonald did not recieve a parking ticket for his Triumph TR4 was because it has black number plates, These can not be read by ANPR cameras and therefore made the feature slightly missleading.

I went to Macdonalds @ Heathrow with my family of four. It was dark, and raining very hard, so needless to say I did not walk around the car park, looking for restrictions, and as a rule, I dont, at any resturant. To feed a family of four, let them use the toilets, etc,etc all within 60 minutes is rather unrealistic. I do understand that some people will abuse any system, however the reponse from MET parking, and Macdonalds, was just pay the fine. Which I have done, not a happy meal!!
I think in future we will eat at resturants, which will give us more than 60 minutes to eat our dinner.

I've received a fine of £100 for staying at McDonalds in Newark for 1hr 45 mins when the limit is 75 minutes. The franchisee, didn't want to know and the parking company were just as unhelpful. McDonalds themselves didn't even respond to my enquiry.

I was there with a foster child who was meeting his parents. I didn't know there were any parking restrictions and because of that I didn't look for signs.

My local newspaper have taken up the story because they said they weren't aware of restrictions. I asked the franchisee why he didn't put a sign on the door but he couldn't be bothered to reply.

There's a KFC next door, guess where we will be going in future?

My son visited McDonalds in Sittingbourne two weeks ago at 5.27am for breakfast before starting a 6 to 2 shift. He then drove to work and decided to call in again at 14.42 after he finished work. He recieved a letter and £50 fine on 27th April stating he had been parked there for 555 minutes. Only two photographs were shown instead of the four that would actually have been taken. My son worked at this branch of McDonalds until December this year, so is very aware of the parking restrictions and would never of broken them.

I work for a hotel hotel and used the Mcdonalds on the Bath road at Heathrow.
As my car is leased,the "ticket",although never placed on the car was sent to the leasing company who inturn sent it to the offices of the hotel who finally sent it to me.This took some time.
I visited the McDs at the time given,left,purchased some petrol and returned an hour or so later to buy a drink and use the"facilities"
My point is;if,as they claim, they have cctv of my entrance and exit,they MUST have a record of TWO visits and have chosen to ignore an entry and an exit.
My company,rather than incur a problem with MET may take the"fine" straight from my wages £125.00 and rising and even though I am trying to contest this,the time issue is a problem on its own.
May I suggest that McDs chose another company AND make the signs clearer or they will lose more customers as well a me.

Many thanks,
Paul

I overstayed my welcome in the Stansted car park by 25 minutes - it was late, out of holiday season, the park half empty, the restaurant ticking over etc - but nonetheless an automatic fine and zero sympathy from MacDonald's.

Auto number plate recognition and bullyboy tactics are an easy way to make money. Perhaps the law needs changing to restrict the DVLA to giving out info only in criminal cases, and to tighten up contract law, so that a sign and a camera don't represent a legal contract!

I'm thinking about mouting a TV camera on my home with a sign on it which says 'if you read this you agree to pay £1000 on demand'

I got a ticket for a return visit to the McDonalds at Gatwick picking up my girlfriend after a business trip. I got a coffee, left to collect her from arrivals and we returned to get some lunch 30 minutes later.
5 days later I got a ticket from MET which I was livid about, however in their defence I called the customer support number and after a few discussion they waived the fine. The lady in the program who just ignored the ticket is just creating a drama. Rather than sitting around feeling indignant I do think people should just call them up and put their case in a politel fashion. Worked for me. They were a great more respectful and reasonable than Wesmninster council, for example, who towed my car for having an expired resident permit the day after the birth of my daughter. £350 fine and they refused the appeal.

There is no 'appeal'. Remember, it's not an official parking ticket, they just rely on people confusing it with one.

Just had something similar happen to me, I parked on a [retailer removed] car park and didn't notice the time limit of 2 hours. On returning to my car there was no ticket attached but I got a letter in the post today from a company called [pcompany removed] asking me to pay a £90 fine reduced to £45 if I pay within 2 weeks.
Having done a little research on the internet I have decided not to respond to the letter as it is apparantly unenforcable as it is from a private company, I will wait to see what happens.
I was wondering whether anybody else has tried this tactic and what their outcome was?

Having telephoned MacDonalds regarding my over-stay and subsequent parking charge notice whilst eating in at their Heathrow restaurant - I thought you might like to see an e-mail response MacDonalds sent back to me from their Customer Support....
Note - in paragraph 4 MacDonalds refer to it being their policy so why do they pass this off as nothing to do with them but it is the parking company.
Dear (name removed)
I am in receipt of your contact details following your visit to our Heathrow D/T restaurant. As Senior Customer Services Manager I have been asked to respond to you on behalf of our business, I have noted your comments and welcome the opportunity to confirm our policy on this matter.
As a company, putting in place enforcements within our car parks is only done after careful consideration and very much as a last resort. Primarily, we use parking measures to ensure there are spaces available for our customers' vehicles, as well as to deter unwarranted or unreasonably prolonged usage of the facility. This is especially necessary at our restaurants which are in close proximity to airports such as Heathrow D/T.
I can confirm this parking area is managed by an independent company who are responsible for monitoring the car park and taking details of registration numbers. The regulations and signs at the restaurant clearly state our policy and the relevant charges.
I trust you will appreciate that in order to maintain a consistent approach; we have to adhere to the guidelines in place. As such, in a situation such as a clear contravention of parking regulations, we are unable to deal with any specifics or cases on an individual basis.
Suffice to say, if a customer contravenes the clearly displayed parking regulations, they will receive a ticket.
Thank you for contacting us and again for the opportunity to comment.
Yours sincerely
(name removed)
Senior Manager
Internet Response Team

you have to whonder if the worker's of the restaurant's are safe from the fine's i work at restaurant in northampton where we don't have parking fine's the only time there are parking charges in places is when the football is no but worker's can get out of paying the fine as there is a reason for there car to be in the car park but there are some car's how sit in the car park for hours just to use the free wifi that the store has and that is not fair the rule for parking charges should
turn a great day out to bad day out there

McDonalds should help people out more at the stores that have parking charges like put sign's near the till's or around the restaurant to to let people no as some time you don't see the sign as you come in to there carpark's

i whonder if lorry driver's who deliver to the stores got the fine to as i no the driver's who deliver to my store
and after the stock has been drop off thay take there brack's in the car park whick could be 15 to 45 minutes and that after the 45 minute that it take's to drop the stores items off so dose that mean if thay stay over the time limt that thay whould be fined to

free parking for between 60 and 75 minutes and no return within 90 to 120 minutes.

is should be something like this

free parking for between 90 and 120 minutes and no return within 30 minutes.

after all it is a family restaurant and there are many kid's who vist
McDonalds every day and we all no kid take time to eat and if it busy it can take so time to get your food ordered
but McDonalds should help people out no matter the reason
or McDonalds could loss people to go to the stores just becouse there scred of geting a fine

Private companies just ignore they are worthless!
Spend the money on a night out, ignore all the useless court threats!
Saved me 3100 SO i DONATED TO THE CONSUMER ACTION GROUP for thanks and now try to collect tickets from these scammers!

As the Stanstead McDonalds is not the public highway, would it be illegal to cover up ones number plate?

The answer to ALL private parking companies is to ignore all the threats. sounds scary with all those words about courts etc but IGNORE, dont even appeal as they ignore you! Google it. or ask the question on consumer action group like I did. These companies are scum, preying on customers and vunerable people reagrdless. spread the ignore word and enjoy collecting those tickets!

There is a key point that all of these private parking companies fall down on. They are a PRIVATE company, not a court of law or a council office. ONLY a legal body can impose a punitive fine, all a private company can do is reclaim their lost income (eg, £3/hr parking if your ticket runs out, etc) but in the FREE customer car parks provided by stores and restaurants there is no income to lose.
On that basis alone the invoices they post out (they aren't fines, only a legal body can impose a fine) are a farce.
If you do not pay the invoice, they send threatening letters, followed by more threatening letters (i noticed in the program that the ticketing company sent a letter adding "court costs" without ever going to court!), this is all they can do. They are fully aware that their invoices are unenforceable (which is why most people don't pay them and don't hear from the parking company after a handful of threatening letters)
They rely on peoples fear of official looking paperwork and use phases implying that they can damage your credit rating or send bailiffs to your home. They can not do any of this without going to court to claim their lost income. The income that they never lost in the first place ......

We visited Skegness on Sunday February 28th February
and met up with our friends and we decided to go to McDonalds on Skegness seafront. We had no idea that our car numbers had been taken and we thought the signs were meant for none McDonalds customers. This night was very cold, minus 3, and we had sleet showers so we hurried into the restaurant. Our cars where almost the only ones parked there. We bought food, coffees and ice cream and chatted and we were the only people in the restaurant for most of the time. So we couldn't believe it a week later when this invoice of £100 dropped in our letterbox saying we'd been there for over two hours. The next week we returned to the restaurant and asked to speak to the manager and she said she'd remembered us being in there and said she'd sort it out for us. The next day we got a phone call from a McDonalds manager saying he'd sorted it all out with UK Carparking control and as far as he was concerned he'd quashed it for us but all we had to pay was £15 administration charge to this private company to cover the cost of sending a letter and obtaining my details. He told us that McDonalds didn't make a penny out of these fines and in future if we stay longer than the alloted time we should tell a member of staff who would make sure we wouldn't get a fine. Anyway when I rang to pay the £15 the car parking company said they didn't know anything about it and as far as they were concerned it was still £100 we had to pay. We refused to pay this and will not pay as it is an invoice and the only thing McDonalds can sue us for is loss of trade which would be a little difficult as we were the only customers in there. And as you can imagine Skegness in the winter is a pretty desolate place and there are not a lot of people about. We also noticed that the warning sign is at the exit and it is in black letters on a blue background which is not really visible. We understand that these private car parking companies pay the DVLA £2.50 to obtain our details and we think it is very wrong of the DVLA to make this information available to these companies as they are nothing to do with the police or council.
I have taken photos and wrote to my MP who is making a dossier of these private parking firms and in future we will not be eating in a McDonalds again

As someone who fell foul of one of these parking companies in a shopping centre carpark, and who then looked at the numerous forums on the subject of these so-called parking tickets, I can reiterate that you must be brave and completely IGNORE all correspondence, escalalating 'fines', threatening letters from debt collectors who said they would visit me personally within 3 days (they didn't, although I almost caved in at this point), solicitors letters etc. They have no basis in contract (or any other) law, they will not take you to court as they know they would lose. If they did you could probably file a counterclaim for harrassment.
Additionally of course, you should protest in the strongest possible terms directly to the chairman/chief exec/md of the shops & fast food outlets involved and don't give them your business.

I had similar experience at McDonalds in Chadderton. Took my two children (3 and 10) for something to eat. By the time they had eaten, used the facilities and eaten desserts, we went over the allowed 75 minutes (trying to get a 3 year old to eat is not always easy!). I received a fine for £100 which would be reduced to £50 if I paid within 14 days. I appealed to the company and wrote to both McDonalds HO and the franchisee for their comment on their policy of limiting the amount of time you are allowed to take to eat in their restaurants and pointing out that I have never experienced this in any other restaurant and if such a time limit exists, that it should be made clear to customers at the point at which they purchase their food. HO wrote back with a letter dated the day after mine (suggesting it is a standard letter!) passing the buck for parking restrictions to the franchisee and telling me they would forward my letter to them. HO clearly had not bothered to read my letter because if they had, they would have known that I had already been on their website and obtained the franchisee's details and sent a copy of the letter to him directly. They offered no response to my question regarding why time limits for eating were not displayed in their restaurants. Franchisee didn't even bother to reply! Parking company did reply and reduced the fine to £25 "as a gesture of goodwill" provided it was paid within 14 days of their letter. I paid as my partner was concerned about having to pay out £100. Wish I had researched the company and read this blog first as had I have known that they cannot legally enforce payment, I wouldn't have paid.

To echo my earlier comment, here is a link to a news story where a judge has deemed these "fines" illegal as they are so high. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-542355/Judge-quashes-300-parking-fine--set-frighten-intimidate-driver.html

.... Mr Lee told Mansfield County Court that the levy of £100 per offence was an "unlawful penalty clause" intended to "frighten or intimidate" and therefore unenforceable.

This argument was accepted by District Judge Wall, who ruled that the fines did not have to be paid. ....


Watchdog, please revisit this story so people can be protected from these rogues.

we recieved a parking charge from MET when my husband picked me up from the McDonalds car park at Wittlesford to visit a relative in the Royston area and on the way home we went back to McDonalds for something to eat and thought nothing more of it untill we recived a notice from MET trying to fleece us out of £100 because we had returned to get a burger. What concerns me is that this process has taken MET nearly six weeks to produce this fine and then they expect you to jump and pay in 14 days. well they are not getting a penny from us and we probably will not eat at Mcdonalds anymore if they do buisness with dubious people like MET.

I too have been unfortunate to be caught out by this system McDonalds are responsible for, which isn't well thought out and is affecting bonafide customers.
Like many others, I did not realise that there were parking restrictions at some of Mcdonalds sites and the one I visited recently on the Bath Road near Heathrow to have a spot of lunch with a couple of friends resulted in a PCN from MET for an "overstay of 15 mins" for each of us who had driven there as a central meeting point.
When phoning McDonalds, I too was fobbed off like many other customers with their Customer Services stating there were signs and flyers on the tables and there is nothing they can do. (We ate outside and there definitely weren’t any flyers on the tables and this seemed a busy restaurant when I drove in where I certainly had to keep my wits about me with all the other cars pulling in and out and walking pedestrians).
Having been what you could call regular consumer/supporter of Mcdonalds for many, many years it disappointing that Mcdonalds is passing this off to another company saying they cannot do anything. Now come on McDonalds, it’s your car parks and you have decided to farm out to these parking services companies.
I agree with that fact the there may be issues with certain people misusing the car parks but McDonalds should find a system that hits those in question.
Does McDonalds really know what their customers are saying…this site like many others and many people that I’ve since spoken with are also of the same opinion that this system is unfair?
Why doesn't McDonalds realise that they are hurting their good, regular bonafide customers and have more empathy, hold their hands up and say, yes we've got it wrong to target all customers this way and we'll do something about it!
If McDonalds still want to continue with the current system, why not hand over a small warning leaflet with every meal purchased, I’d certainly notice that!!!!
I believe this is one step too far and customers will vote with their feet and not spend their money at Mcdonalds or try and chose one of their competitors. I in the meantime will not step foot in another McDonalds again.

[Company removed] recently sent me a parking charge notice for £70. I have ignored it and they have now sent a further notice for £90 and are threatening me with a debt collection agency.
The offence occurred in [supermarket removed] car park which I used when I went to see a couple of the Six Nations rugby matches at my 'local' (which has no car park and most people therefore park round the back of [the supermarket], well out of the way). Yes I admit I did exceed the limit but this charge now works out at over 50pence per minute for the excess and therefore I rate that as a very excessive charge, particularly as the excess period was actually after 7 p.m.
I have looked on the Internet for advise and various sites say “do not pay this charge” - it being claimed that this is only a notice and parking fines can only be applied by the police or the council.

If so, do you have any advise about what steps to take ?
a) Is this charge actually enforceable ?
b) Is there any control over the level of charges imposed by these companies ?
b) Should I approach the police (or any other organisation) ? [I have been told it is possible the land is actually owned by the Council (it used to be the Cattle Market)]
c) What action should I take if/when bailiffs knock on my door ?
d) Is it advisable to now write to this organisation ? [One item I found on the Internet said that he wrote to them stating that he would impose a charge of £50 for each letter he wrote (and that this was legally enforceable !)]

I have to agree with several of the other posters here about these 'fines', I am rather surprised that Watchdog still tell people that these are fines, they are not, they are invoices nothing more, they Cannot effect your Credit rating etc no matter what they tell you (unless you ignore a Court issued fine)

There should be a one on meals getting smaller

To DAVE above, the private parking company have given you an invoice, not a fine. You do not have to pay it, recently a Judge has decided these invoices are unlawful as they are so high.
A private company can not give you a "penalty", only a legal body can do that. The council/govt CAN fine you £100, a private company can not. They know this, they rely on threatening letters and scary claims of damaging your credit rating in order to scare you in to paying the high costs.
The private company can NOT damage your credit rating without taking you to court, which they don't want to do as Judges rule against them (due to the excessive charges).
Do not write back to them, you are under no legal obligation to contact them. They will send you multiple invoices, then solicitors threats, then debt collector threats, then they go away and find another victim. Often these different firms writing to you have "similar" addresses to the original parking company ....
Don't worry about it, they have no legal power over and can not take you to court (once they lose a few cases the news will report it and their entire business model is based on people not knowing their rights.)

i have had a same incident with parking in [removed] stores in liverpool old swan , i have unfortunately paid the fine 0f £40.00 for staying 9 miniuts longer than the 1.5 hrs stated time . i did not realise this as it was a new [removed] store that i had not been to. but will never go back again .

My daughter's boyfriend had the same issue at B&Q in Farnborough. He was unemployed and started up his own business as a builder, and visited B&Q early one morning for 1/2 hour then left but returned late in the afternoon.
He then received a fine notice alledging that he had been there all day - ridiculous as he wouldn't be making any money if he spent all day parked in a car park!
We complained to B&Q who weren't interested in doing anything about it as they have a management company for the carpark, - never mind that this is their reputation at stake.
We then contacted the management company who assured us that they would look into it and amend if necessary. A week later we contacted them again to find nothing had been done about it- even though we gave them the times he entered and left the carpark.
Eventually they cancelled the charge, but with no apology.
We will never use B&Q again,due to their 'don't care' attitude and the fact that when you enter the carpark the notices warning you not to return within a specified amount of time are tiny and not immediately apparent, especially when trying to find a space during busy times.
All I can say is 'you shouldn't do it when you B&Q it'!!

Just to make this absolutely clear. These private companies have no basis in law to pursue you for the fine.If you pay it,your a fool.They may huff,puff and threaten but will never ever take legal action as it just isn't worth the cost of taking you to a civil court. Dont ever pay these vultures.

PS I've recently been interviewed for a job by one of these jokers and basically they are all crooks.

McDonalds NOT MACdonalds!!

An interesting and frustrating policy in McD... When our kids were younger, our visits took longer than the 75mins of our local McD's. My suggestion to everyone - boycott McD with parking restrictions to force them to change their monitoring systems or policy. McD's with parking limits are generally out of town. If they want us to use them, get rid of the restrictions.

Interesting comment made by the Traffic lawyer about the fines being worthless! I got a parking fine in a [edited] car park, for parking my car for longer than 2 hours. It is not MY fault that the service at [edited] was atrocious that day! Anyway, a company called [URL edited] gave me similiar advice as that of the traffic lawyer on the programme. They wrote me an appeal letter and I didn't pay the fine. That was 3 months ago. I'm £60 better off! :)

Hi i got a parking ticket 2 weeks ago in a Mcdonalds car park i was only gone 10 mins and when i returned i found a MET parking ticket stuck on my window i was not happy.I appealed against it that day and i still have not heard anything back yet in another 4 days it would have been 3 weeks since i recieved the ticket.The other thing that upset me was that i had my disabled badge displayed in the window.How can they treat people like this.

Did I hear right on tonights Watchdog, when the 'traffic specialist' solicitor?? was interviewed? That our credit rating can only be affected by CCJ's and not at the whim of people / companies that just decide that you owe them money? If so, my bank has been robbing me blind for over 15 months now because they did a credit rating check (with [company removed] or someone) and said I had a bad 'credit footprint' due to claims that I owe money, prior to setting (bumping up) the interest on my loan, (at a time when interest rates were 'rock bottom') and, as I certainly have no CCJ's, is this legal? Where can I find out (in writing so I can take it to my bank and these credit rating companies) exactly what the law says here, and where / what would the official reference be?

Dear Watchdog,

If I may play Devils Advocate for a moment.

I live in West London and have 2 McD's less than 1 mile apart. They both have almost identical operations. Parking, drive through and size.

One is on attached to a retail park, the other on Southall Broadway.

The retail parking is a premium in Southall, but the burgers cost the same.

I ask myself and you. Why provide parking in such a high retail enviroment, when it would make more sense to just have drive through and build on the carparking space?

Is it the people that abuse this parking that cause the problem?

Or

The planners that say you must provide parking?

In my opinion (IMO) anyone that needs more than an hour in a fast food carpark, should be more worried about something other than parking charges.

my husband has just got a parking fine from met parking on 23/4/10 he took the children to [edited] on the same site at mcdonalds at 16.38 was there for approx 30 mins . I then took his car to work at approx 18.20 and grabed a burger at the mcdonals drive through and left at 18.38 they are saying he was there for 110 min this is not true but they have not stated that our car went in and out twice in this time frame - but i know we did but it was to diffrent shops not sure how we stand or wether to pay the fine please can anyone suggest what to do !!

Dave & Tracy, you do not have a "fine", only a legal body can issue a fine. What you have is an invoice from a private parking company. All a private company can do is pursue you for "damages", that is to say, the money they lost by you using the parking area outside of the implied contract. As it is a FREE carpark, they have not lost any income.
They will threaten you with a court appearance, debt collectors and CCJs. They can not just fill in a form and instantly give you a CCJ. They need to take you to court. All a court will award them is the "damages" i mentioned earlier. If they've not lost any income due to your actions, there is nothing to take you to court about.
A Judge has already deemed these "fines" as unlawful due to their amount. The private parking companies do not want to take you to court, if they do, they will lose. Once it becomes public knowledge that they lose when they take people to court, their business model fails.
As they can't take you to court (and win) they will send you numerous invoices (they aren't fines!) will ever increasing amount owing. They will threaten court, they will threaten bailiffs, they will threaten a CCJ. But they can't take you to court as they've not lost income due to your actions.
If you've parked for 5 hours in a £5/hr carpark, they could pursue you for the lost £25, but in a free carpark, their is no income to lose.

more info about met parking services - the invoice i got shows my husband car going into a well known companys car park which is not monitored by met parking services - however to acccess this car park you have to enter via the mc donals entrance as it is one way they cannot show a photo of him exiting as he went out via the film rental companys exit. ( the two carparks are linked buy one entrance but two exits ) I then take car to drive through later and they clock me leaving via the mc donalds exit. They have there claim now that car has been parked for 110 mind and not the allowed 75 mins, very clever. Have been to the rental company and got proof of rental time which is only 5mins after 1st photo, they are very angry that the camera points directly to there entrance and not mc donalds went to mc donalds and got given a customer service number to call have called and been told to call met parking (have no intention in doing this ). Have asked mc donalds to contact me regarding the camera position and am contacting the rental company on monday to inform them of the situation at there feltham store. How can they point cameras at an entrance to a car park that they are not paid to monitor. I hope watchdog look into this one !!!

What I find hard to understand is:
By returning to the car park, you have not committed a criminal offence so how does MET parking get the details of the registered keeper of the vehicle? Why are DVLA (or whatever they call themselves these days) allowed to give out the names and adresses of registered keepers to private enterprises ?

There used to be a time when this data was only available to the police.

well heres the good news - contacted the company and informed them of the position of the met parking camera was asked to contact mc donalds again -did that spoke to a customer service manager explained the situation with the photos and was told by them to contact met parking services to explain the situation and if i didnt have any luck to contact them again and the would take up my complaint - so I contacted met parking services today and as they confirmed the entrance photo is of my husband entering another car park attached to the one they monitor they have CANCLLED my ticket.I have also complained to them about the pisition of the camera and they assured me they would look into it. My advide if you can prove you have done nothing wrong do so !!!

Natasha261, the DVLA will happily sell the details of registered keepers to any company or business body who have a "reason" to trace the RK.

I have just recieved a parking fine from Mcds, after leaving my car there for over an hour? What should I do? If I do not pay the fine will it effect my driving licence? Any advice will be welcomed?

Sarah, please read the posts above yours. You have not been given a fine, you have been given an invoice from a private company.
They have no legal power over you and can not force you to pay this invoice. Please read the comments above.

The time restrictions are fair as Colin B said if your in there for more than an hour then somethings not right - Its called fast food for a reason and as for the no return it's more of a deterant for people who want free parking for an extended amount of time so they don't just leave and comeback. Not reading the signs is not a good reason, why would you leave you carin a carpark without reading the signs - they have loads so you can't say you didn't see any. Some supermarkets have a similar system for their carparks so why just focus on McDonalds.

In the USA it might be "fast food", but here at home it doesn't work like that. It's quiet easy to be stood queuing for 10 minutes as the kitchen don't cook the food fast enough and there are only 2 people serving.
Add to that the speed that kids eat at and the free colouring that is provided and a toilet break and a desert... being in there for over an hour is VERY easy.
Parking companies know this, they have 2 options, 1) extend the time to 90 minutes so that customers of the restaurant can complete their dining without rushing, or 2) send them an (un-enforceable) invoice for £100.
Not reading the signs? You pull into McDonalds free carpark and go into McDonalds, what would you expect the signs to tell you "only for McDonalds customers" maybe...

Similar thing happened to me. On 30th April 2010 i decided to take my two children aged 2 and 4 and my two sisters aged 10 and 13 to mcdonalds as a treat after school, we were also meeting my friend there with her two children. I Parked my car in Mcdonalds car park which is on a retail park, It was a friday afternoon and mcdonalds was very busy by the time we found a seat ordered our food, recieved it 25 mins or so must have passed. you can imagine how long it takes children to eat there meals i didnt for one minute think i was on a time limit. Anyway we had a nice afternoon eating chatting etc. To my surprise Thursday 13th May i recieve a fine from met parking for staying to long in mcdonalds car park they had pictures of the car entering and leaving the car park, i stayed 90mins they state im only allowed 60mins. I was shocked!! they want me to pay £50 and if i dont pay by 21st they want £100. I've appealed this decision as i dont feel i should pay a fine for eating at there restaurant. I will wait to hear what there response is.......

As above, it's not a "fine", it's an invoice. When you write your "appeal", it's not going to an independent body to review the facts, it's going to a private company who have it in their interest to demand money from you.
Please read my above comments on the amount of money they are allowed to request (it's a request, not a demand, they aren't an official body) you to pay.
They will reject your "appeal" as they just want your money.
They will send you threatening letters (sometimes they use red ink!) claimibg they will do all matter of dreadful things with bailiffs, CCJs and your credit record. They can't do any of this and they know it. They rely on peoples lack of knowledge of these situations to gather their income.
Do not panic, do not worry, they have no legal power over you. Only a court or council can "fine" you. All a private company can do is ask for money. A request you can safely ignore.
If it was a £5/hr car park, then they COULD ask you for the lost £5/hr parking revenue (a business shoudn't lose money through no fault of their own). In a free carpark, there is no revenue to lose, therefore there is no amount to put on any court papers, meaning no court case (no matter how many times they threaten to do so), no court case means no CCJ, no CCJ means no bailiffs.
Please read other comments on this page for your own peace of mind. Private parking companies rely on people not knowing the rules, if you know the rules, you know how little power they have over you.

It's not just Maccy D's, its [retailer removed] too!!!! Popped to a local [retailer removed] over the easter holidays looking at the cost of several items for our garden, Gas BBQ, Fence Panels, Patio furniture, then meet friends that we hadn't seen for a while around the furniture and bathroom area. Spent a while chatting before we realised how long we had actually been. 2 Weeks later we rec'd a "fine" in the post of £95 for overstaying in the carpark. We were told that we would have to produce a receipt for this "fine" to be overturned, this was a problem as we hadn't purchased anything, we had merely been pricing. Luckily one of the members of staff remembered talking with us and took this up and we rec'd a letter of apology. What shocked me is how the DVLA pride themselves in the fact that they only give my information to a few regulated companies, what they don't tell you is that just one of these co's then gives my info to at least 600 other companies, and that one of these co's give my info to at least 600........ you get the picture. It used to be called pyramid selling when it was cleaning fluid!!!!!! My bank would be striped and closed down if they behaved in such a manner, so how can the DVLA get away with giving my personal details, address etc to a company of chancers who prey on people, hoping that they will just panic and pay!!!They used to ride horses wearing mask down our way over a hundred years ago

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Problem seems to be with MET, not McD's. While having a breakfast in the McCarpark at Gatwick at some ungodly hour, I noticed most of the other cars were minicabs - most of whom had parked with no intention of visiting the restaurant. Until MET are able to distinguish between loyal customers and repeat free-parkers, McD's will continue to suffer unnecessary grief.

My colleague and i were at the NEWARK Notts restaurant having decided to meet there and avail ourselves of the free wifi whilst discussing our business.We stayed for 90 minutes,spending money at the restaurant,neither of us noticing the small print signs from [company removed] .We both got a ticket.I think it is appalling that Mcdonalds encourage business people to meet at McDonalds with Free Wi Fi etc and then penalise them to this extent.Both the Franchisee and McDonalds were unsympathetic to my appeals so i have instructed my company sales teams NEVER to frequent this restaurant or any Mcdonalds for business meets.This will cost McDonalds over gbp 1000 way more than trying to enforce their stupid illegal fine.

The same thing happened to my in one of my local supermarkets.

[company removed] wrote and told me I had been "fined". Their letter took 13 days to be produced & arrive at my home. And in fact the detail on it was incorrect as all their printing had slipped about and so the contravention date & issue dates were in the wrong data fields.

Stupidly I was so frightened I paid the £40 reduced fine.

However, they have since written to me since I paid in quite an intimidating way saying I still owe them money. Interestingly their follow-up correspondence only took 2 days to arrive.

And all their correspondence has a black & white check border to make it look like something to do with the police.

Given what I've read on here I'm going to ignore their additional threats.

I wish I had read this sooner! And I WILL NOT be shopping at that store again.

So for each 100 pound fine that gets paid they would need to have 39 customers ignore their threats but still costing the company the 2.50 charge to buy the details off DVLA before they don't make any money.
It seems to me we need more people out-staying the parking period and not paying the invoice.

I've also just been pinged by Met acting on behalf of McDs. Having spent a little time looking at the Web and thinking about this, I'm certainly not going to be paying. Given the lack of statutory authority (unlike the police and local authorities), PPCs can only be claiming for some sort of breach of contract (a contract for parking). Point 1 here - there can only be a contract if the terms of the contract are sufficiently known to both parties (i.e. if there are very few signs or they're confusing/not in the right location, there's no contract). Point 2 - For a contract claim, a party needs to suffer a loss, or "damage", which can either be "liquidated" (fixed) in the contract or "unliquidated" (that is, to be quantified when a claim arises). These "PCNs" purport to be "fines" but are more likely to be liquidated damages, but to be enforceable in law, they need to represent "a reasonable pre-estimate of the loss suffered". If they're more than that, they're a penalty for breach of contact and, under English contract law, penalties are NOT enforceable. In other words, these "PCNs" would be legitimate is they were for a few pounds if the car park has similar lost charges. For free car parks, what loss has the PPC suffered? I should say that this is only my personal and intuitive view of this situation. You draw your own conclusions, but I'm confident enough not to pay these cowboys and, as someone with many years' experience as a lawyer, I probably have some idea what I'm doing.

I've just had letters from parking eye who are monitoring the car park at MCD pencoed M4. i was totally unaware that there were any restrictions on these restaurants. i find it shocking that my 17 minute over stay at half 5 in the morning on a sunday caused so much disruption that they had to write to me 2 weeks later... 80pound - jog on guys i've been a long time listener to JV in the afternoons.....

I to have received a parking fine from mcdonalds in gatwick myself and my husband took some autistic children to mcdonalds and two weeks later we received a £100 fine through the post i rang mcdonalds and explained we were having a meal with disabled children in there restaurant at the time and they couldnt care less this is totaly disgraceful i will not be using mcdonalds again and would suggest others likewise to do the same

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