Single mother faces £170 parking fine after overstaying at McDonald’s for just 14 minutes
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Single mum faces £170 parking ticket after staying at McDonald’s just 14 minutes too long while treating her kids to a slap-up meal
A terrified single mother was fined £170 after standing in a McDonald’s car park for just 14 minutes longer, it is alleged.
Catherine Bowden treated her two young children to a McDonalds in Walsgrave, Coventry, last November after testing negative for Covid.
But the 40-year-old is now “worried sick” because she has received a parking ticket that police say will be difficult for her to pay off. Subway.
She told the publication, “I’m a single parent who honestly doesn’t have a lot of money, so I’d treated my kids to McDonald’s because I knew they had a play area.
“I’m worried sick to death, I’ve never been in debt in my life and I don’t know what to do.”
Catherine Bowden (pictured) was fined after taking her child to McDonald’s in Coventry
A McDonald’s spokesperson reportedly said signposts were “clearly visible” at the branch
Catherine claimed she misread the parking time limit signage, which caused her to accidentally overstay.
Although the fine was initially said to be £50, it rose to £170 by the time Catherine desperately tried to contact McDonald’s for help.
The mother called this “unfair” and claimed she would not have chosen to go to McDonald’s had she known about the cameras or the 90-minute limit.
Despite this, a McDonald’s spokesperson told MailOnline that the signposts were “clearly displayed” at the Coventry branch.
Details would have been legible from some lampposts and at the car park entrance.
The spokesperson added: ‘We have parking restrictions in place for some of our restaurants, with a time limit to ensure there is adequate parking for all our customers.
“There is ample signage regarding these restrictions, both as you enter the car park, on various lampposts within it, and in the restaurant.
“We work with industry-approved contractors to ensure customers don’t exceed the 90-minute limit.”
A Stoke-on-Trent taxi driver also received a £60 parking fine after stopping just 47 seconds outside a McDonald’s branch in a similar incident.
Kam Parvez, 33, had gone to pick up a customer when parking operator iPark Services said he parked on yellow “keep clear” markers at the entrance to the McDonald’s parking lot.
He successfully reversed the sentence after winning a second appeal.
McDonald’s previously declined to comment on the Mr Parvez incident as it did not take place on its premises.