Cabbie is sick of fines issued in error at McDonalds car park in Sutton

Andy Richards, of Andy Taxi and Travel, says he is sick of being sent parking charge notices by UK Parking Control which he can prove are wrong.

He says he has been sent at least six letters claiming his cars have been in the car park at the Priestsic Road restaurant for hours at a time.

The Kirkby taxi boss said: “Sometimes when drivers go into McDonald’s drive-thru for a coffee, it seems the camera sees them going in, but not when they go out.

“I have had letters saying we have been parked there for four hours and another for seven hours.

“The law says we have to record the hours we do and submit them to the council, so we can prove they are false.

“I have to keep going through the appeal process to prove we weren’t there for that amount of time, but what about other motorists who are getting fines and don’t have the proof?

“Private individuals could be getting them and just paying up.

“Two other taxi operators say they have had loads of these fines sent through to them.

“I have had a debt agency calling me and I just say that we will take it to court.

“At best this is a mistake – at worst they are doing it on purpose.”

A McDonald’s spokesman said: “We’re not aware of any significant complaints regarding the parking restrictions at our Sutton restaurant.

“At a number of our restaurants, parking restrictions are in place to ensure there is adequate parking for genuine customers.

“Where restrictions are in place, we work with industry-approved contractors to ensure they are clearly signposted and communicated.

“If a customer feels they have been wrongly ticketed, we encourage them to get in touch with the third party contractor who issued the ticket by way of appeal.”

UK Parking Control was unavailable for comment.