UKPC McDonalds Parking Charge

spookyej

Hello All, really looking for some help in this total minefield of parking fines and the law.

My wife took our 2 children to McDonalds in Tamworth and parked in 'their' car park. She met at the restaurant with her sister and her children. They sat and ate, played on the interactive games, she fed our youngest (6 months old) and changed him, then decided to have ice cream before leaving. The only purpose of the visit was to eat and spend at this restaurant. At no time did she leave the premises.

We received a letter some days later from UKPC to issue a £50 parking charge because she overstayed the 1.5hour limit. We were totally shocked that this happened, she was a genuine customer of the restaurant. Feeding children does take time, add to that some fun on the games that McDonalds supply and bottle feeding and changing a newborn + separate desert and it's no surprise that a leisurely lunch exceeded this time period.

My wife emailed the restaurant CC: the franchise owner (McLean Restaurants). The centralized restaurant email didn't want anything further to do with it and the franchise owner has not replied.
She appealed on the grounds of being a customer, having children, using only their facilities and being unaware of the very small signs that were on the grounds. It was rejected.
Now we have further threats of increasing charges and debt collectors if not paid.
What do we do? Should we just pay and consider the matter done?
Goes without saying this restaurant and it's connected franchise will be blacklisted for us.
Your comments are very much appreciated!! Thanks

Fruitcake

Did you get a PoPLA code with the initial appeal rejection? If so, did you use it?

If you didn't appeal but the code is still valid (they last 32 days) then use it.

If the PoPLA appeal deadline has passed you should ask for another PoPLA code quoting that the Alternative Dispute Resolution Act 2015 states that consumers must be allowed access to ADR for up a year.

I expect it will be rejected at which point you should complain to the BPA and your MP about this disregard for the will of parliament as well as being an unregulated scam.

Contact local and national press, and leave negative feedback on social media about the cafe to warn others about the scam.