A motorist visiting Stansted Airport ‘twice’ within the 90 minute rule received a parking fine letter for a staggering £100 parking fine for contravening the 90 minute rule. His father, Dr Gary Girling, says his son was sent the letter from MET Parking Services who manage the car park for McDonalds claiming the fine was justified but would accept £50 if settled immediately. Apparently the fine is valid if you make visits to the car park less than 90 minutes apart.
Dr Girling’s son was meeting his friends at the airport after a romantic holiday in Venice, but thought they would have a late-night snack at McDonalds first. Because he had arrived at the airport early for the flight he purchase a hamburger, then after collecting his friends, headed back to the restaurant car park for something to eat before he returned home to Cambridge.
When he got a letter from MET parking, his dad was furious, admitting that there was a sign warning parkers about the 90 minutes fine, but it was not clearly visible and his son had missed it. He feels that the 18-19 year age group of young people were some of the restaurant’s most frequent users and that this sort of attitude to fining is a callous way of interpreting the law.
The senior customer services manager at McDonalds has since refused to scrap the fine, claiming that they cannot deal with individual cases as there was a clear indication that the parking rules were breached and they hat to keep a consistent approach to parking at the airport restaurant.