McDonalds Car Park

MissC_2

I WAS FINED £50 FOR RETURNING TO a McDonalds CAR PARK WITHIN THE 75 MIN. TIME PERIOD! FOR SIMPLE HAVING A CHANGE OF MIND. I went in the car park saw the drive thru was full, so I left and took a friend home..stopped again and bought food, now I have a £50 fine!

Even after appealling I still have to pay the fine, I called and said I refused, they said I had to write and request the matter be taken to court!!

Paradigm

Who is the ticket from? Who do you have to pay?

david39

If the ticket is not issued by the local authority or the police you do not have to pay.

Look closely to see who has issued the ticket and, if it is a private company, ignore it. The ticket may well look as if it is a genuine parking ticket, but it is that which makes you feel that you must pay it.

There are dozens of threads on this board explaining this point - have a quick look through and you'll find them. Follow the advice you find in them but do not pay the "fine" - it is an invoice - unless it is an official ticket from the council or the police.

trisontana

If it was a private car-park it wasn't a "fine", it's an unenforceable invoice. Don't bother with all that appeal nonsense, just ignore any correspondence from them. If, in the very unlikely instance, they do take you to court they will have to prove material loss suffered by them. In this case this comes to a mighty nothing.

Doodles22

Not the only one

http://www.thisisbristol.co.uk/news/McDonald-s-ice-cream-cost-Bristol-mum-50/article-1209375-detail/article.html

peter_the_piper

Thats a first, a reporter who says that they are invoices and not official fines and can only be dealt with by small claims court, not that MET would ever win but they won't say that on their tickets of course.

bargepole

MissC wrote: »

I WAS FINED £50 FOR RETURNING TO a McDonalds CAR PARK WITHIN THE 75 MIN. TIME PERIOD! FOR SIMPLE HAVING A CHANGE OF MIND. I went in the car park saw the drive thru was full, so I left and took a friend home..stopped again and bought food, now I have a £50 fine!

No, you DON'T have a fine, McDonalds or their private parking company have no powers to fine anybody. All you have is an invoice for an alleged breach of contract.

Even after appealling I still have to pay the fine, ...

Private Parking Companies don't do appeals - they simply pass your letter to the gorilla sitting at the next desk in the portakabin, have a good laugh about the fact you've saved them the £2.50 DVLA fee, then send the standard "appeal rejected" letter.

I called and said I refused, they said I had to write and request the matter be taken to court!!.

You don't have to do anything. Ignore them completely, if they want to pursue it it's up to them to start county court proceedings, which is about as likely as you winning the lottery, and they have to come up with a legally watertight claim, about as likely as you winning the lottery two weeks running.

pogofish

MissC - Bargepole's post above lays it out. Ignore everything from now-on

Alx*27

Let's guess - Parking Eye, G24 or Met?

Either way, I hope you got a lovely CCTV image of your car.

I suggest you try the same thing again and go with a mate. As you drive out and they snap you, have your mate stand on the road, pulling a big moon to the camera.

See if they'll send you a lovely souvenir with your next unenforceable invoice.

Xaviera

Does this apply to Euro carparks too as I've been fined in Tesco before?!

trisontana

Xaviera wrote: »

Does this apply to Euro carparks too as I've been fined in Tesco before?!

It applies to all private car-parking companies unless in the unlikely event they are being employed by a council. And it's not a "fine". It's an invoice.