Ashford McDonald’s Cancel Parking Tickets Leaving Paying Drivers Furious

A McDonald’s in Ashford has caused frustration to drivers unaware they can cancel their parking tickets.

The McDonald’s car-park at Eureka Park is currently monitored by private parking firm, Met Parking, who restrict parking to 90 minutes.

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People who have received these fines have had them cancelled by the franchise but many are unaware this is happening.

Tickets start at £50 and if not paid within 14 days, increased to £100.

This happened to Bronte Sercombe who received a £100 fine after not opening her first letter. Unaware it was not necessary to pay she panicked and paid the lot.

She said: “I feel extremely frustrated that I had to pay a £100 car parking fine, especially as 2 weeks after paying it, I found out that other people managed to get away without paying it. I think that is it is very unfair and ridiculous that a car parking fine should be so expensive.”

Sam Hymers, 19, from Ashford received a parking ticket in July and did not pay it after a staff member offered to help him. He said: “I mentioned the ticket to one of the managers at McDonalds and they were happy to help me cancel it.”

Lois Marshall, 18, from Ashford was given a ticket in October but refused to pay. She said: “I never paid it, I just ignored it as it’s private land. Lots of people told me they can’t enforce it like the council can.”

When contacting McDonald’s about the issue they responded: “At a number of our restaurants, parking restrictions are in place to ensure there is adequate parking for 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 would encourage them to get in touch with the third-party contractor who issued the ticket by way of appeal.”

Met Parking have been approached for a comment.