Complaint to land owner re; breastfeeding

jessw640

Hello,


Having a lovely time writing my letters to MET Parking, DRP and now McDonalds.


I overstayed my welcome there and am rather late in appealing as a new mum, I have been trying to find the time to go to the toilet, let alone write letters! and after reading the complaints post on the sticky post for Newbies, I remembered the reason I overstayed was because I was breastfeeding my 6 week old baby (and yes that is the truth, I had just forgotten). I read the template on the Equality breach etc but this refers to disabled customers and I am a bit confused as how to word this letter effectively, obviously really hammering down on how they clearly don't support emotional breastfeeding mothers...(I know, I know, I'm playing the bf mum card hard)




Any assistance would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you,
Jessica

Fergie76

Breast feeding is covered by EA10.

You say you are late in appealing, how late?

jessw640

I received the first letter on 15th October 2014 and received the DRP letter last week

Fergie76

Your too late to appeal now. DRP are the debt collectors.

Write to DRP and tell them any alleged debt is denied and they should hand it back to the PPC. Then just ignore everything, unless you receive a LBCCC or court papers.

You should also complain to the landowner and McDonald's due to the breach of EA10.

jessw640

The advice on the Newbie thread is to appeal anyway and demand a POPLA code.
I am planning on complaining to McDonalds I was just after some help wording the letter effectively and wondering if the breach of EA10 should be included in my appeal, if anyone else can offer any guidance?

Fergie76

Coupon Mad is the expert on EA10, but you need to do some work yourself.

Have read the relevant section of EA10?

Redx

jessw640 wrote: »

The advice on the Newbie thread is to appeal anyway and demand a POPLA code.
I am planning on complaining to McDonalds I was just after some help wording the letter effectively and wondering if the breach of EA10 should be included in my appeal, if anyone else can offer any guidance?

use the template appeal to MET (regardless of the time lag) , even though they may not issue a popla code there is nothing to stop them doing so , you can add an extra point about the EA2010 but try to avoid saying who was driving if doing so (or dont bother with the EA2010 point yet with them)

you should have done this when you first received the NTK

write a bespoke complaint (not appeal) to McDonalds and threaten a counter claim under the EA2010 if they dont instruct the PPC to drop the charge and also tell them to call off the debt collectors as you deny the debt

Fergie76

Direct discrimination(1) A person (A) discriminates against anothe
r (B) if, because of a protected
characteristic, A treats B less favourably than A treats or would treat others.
(2) If the protected characteristic is age, A
does not discriminate against B if A can
show A’s treatment of B to be a proportionate means of achieving a legitimate
aim.
(3) If the protected characteristic is disability, and B is not a disabled person, A
does not discriminate against B only beca
use A treats or would treat disabled
persons more favourably than A treats B.
(4) If the protected characteristic is marriage and civil partnership, this section
applies to a contravention of Part 5 (work)
only if the treatment is because it is
B who is married or a civil partner.
(5) If the protected characte
ristic is race, less favourable treatment includes
segregating B from others.
(6) If the protected characteristic is sex—
(a) less favourable treatment of a woman includes less favourable
treatment of her because she is breast-feeding;
(b) in a case where B is a man, no
account is to be taken of special treatment
afforded to a woman in connection with pregnancy or childbirth


Equality Act 2010 (c.
15
)
Part 2 — Equality: key concepts
Chapter 2 — Prohibited conduct
9
(2) A person (A) discriminates against
a woman if A treats her unfavourably
because of a pregnancy of hers.
(3) A person (A) discriminates against a
woman if, in the period of 26 weeks
beginning with the day on which she gives birth, A treats her unfavourably
because she has given birth.
(4) The reference in subsection (3) to treating a woman unfavourably because she
has given birth includes, in pa
rticular, a reference to treating her unfavourably
because she is breast-feeding.
(5) For the purposes of this section, the day on which a woman gives birth is the
day on which—
(a) she gives birth to a living child, or
(b) she gives birth to a dead child (more
than 24 weeks
of the pregnancy
having passed).
(6) Section 13, so far as relating to sex discrimination, does not apply to anything
done in relation to a woman in so far as—
(a) it is for the reason mentioned in subsection (2), or
(b) it is in the period, and for the
reason, mentioned in subsection (3).

jessw640

Used this letter template previously written by Coupon Mad. Opinions please, I've never done a complaint before!
I am wondering if it is worth visiting the store manager first?






I am forced to make an official complaint to you because the actions of your agent, Met Parking, are upsetting, intimidatory and will drive away genuine McDonald’s customers in the long run. You can no doubt guess that I have received a letter purporting to mimic a 'parking ticket' from Met Parking - and yet I knew nothing about any issues at the time when I stopped off at McDonalds.

I had stopped off at your restaurant with my 6 week old baby to get myself some lunch after a very exhausting few days of caring for a very unwell baby and dealing with my own sleep deprivation. I purchased a meal for myself and shortly after eating, sat and breastfed my baby in your restaurant. Due to her being very unwell, she struggled to feed which resulted in much frustration and upset for me and we ended up staying longer than expected. I was extremely upset to then be sent a fake parking ticket by your agents for apparently 'overstaying' a hitherto unknown time limit, by what seems to be a matter of 50 minutes. I am now expected to have to explain my actions to a third party private company who I had no dealings with, no contract with, and who are demanding a lot of money from me- in my book that is totally unacceptable and is a breach of the Equality Act 2010.

I am horrified that an apparently family oriented restaurant where I originally felt welcomed and encouraged to breastfeed would allow such a notorious firm to harass customers on your behalf. Because Met Parking sent their letter out unexpectedly, after the event, I do not have a receipt for my purchase as I discarded it, thinking there would be no need to prove any of my actions in your restaurant. I had no idea about any 90 minute time limit, which if I had known, then I would have immediately raised my concerns to a member of staff at the time who I would have thought would accommodate for me feeding my child. However after learning of the type of vicious company you allow to enforce these parking rules, I am much less confident that your company would in fact have supported me in this troublesome time, and in fact, sent me away with my small baby to adhere to the ‘rues’.

I have researched the matter and intend to escalate my challenge against Met Parking to the independent stage (Parking on Private Land Appeals), however, as it has been some time since the incident, I am feeling increasingly concerned about this issue and I do honestly believe it is causing me additional worry and anxiety. As a new mother, I am already struggling with the everyday challenges I face, and I am dreading finding another letter from this company, demanding money I do not have and I cannot understand why I should be forced to pay. However, I am giving McDonalds the chance to quash the fake PCN once and for all because I feel you need to know that you and your agents are alienating genuine customers due to Met Parking’s zero-tolerance policy.


Notwithstanding what Met Parking may well have to say on the matter, no doubt involving spin about their firm 'being members of the BPA Approved Operator Scheme' (in reality, merely trade body 'club membership' which enables them to buy registered keeper data and certainly does not 'regulate' their industry) I would also respectfully suggest that McDonalds should research the company you are associating with and the negative impact it has on your customers.
My view is that ostensibly free ANPR-led enforcement of parking spaces by a notorious and litigious third party firm using remote cameras at the entrance and exit, and a few unnoticeable signs, is completely incompatible with the customer service ethic of McDonalds.

I would welcome your own view on this harassment and hope you see fit to ensure that Met Parking cancel the 'ticket' forthwith. My research about this matter has revealed that you have cancelled some of these tickets for genuine customers recently which has helped to restore my faith a little, albeit tempered with frustration that McDonalds are allowing such an aggressive agent to have free reign to intimidate customers for their own profit, at your (and your customers') own expense.

Redx

its always worth complaining to the store manager, because if they do nothing you have an added point of complaint for head office , otherwise head office could fob you off back to the store , which they cannot do if the store has already been approached and failed to deliver

SpagBol

I had this a year or so ago and was over the appeal date as it was over xmas and I had a very small baby and two older children and was all over the place. I wrote back saying that I had been bf my very small son at the time (he was a few weeks old) and I could prove using my red book that he was exclusively breastfed. I also said I shouldn't be discriminated against due to breastfeeding and that I'm sure they wouldn't want any negative publicity for fining a bf mother for being a few minutes over the allotted time. I said I put my son's needs before my own and he was demand fed and I fed him in the caf! in B&Q (where the car park was).


This seemed to work as I haven't heard back from them in several months. I think they may have tried a few times initially to write threatening court but I held firm and they seem to have given up as it was over a year ago now.


Good luck!