A DRIVER was giving a parking fine - after sitting in a long queue at Weymouth's KFC drive-through.
Weymouth resident Andrew Watson was stunned to receive a fine land on his doormat for £60 - increasing to £100 after 14 days - after visiting the Jubilee Sidings outlet with his girlfriend last month, and having to wait in a long queue at the drive-through.
The fine, issued by private car park operator 'Civil Enforcement Ltd,' states that Mr Watson exceeded the 90 minute car-park stay - and the firm has since confirmed to the Echo that the countdown starts as soon as a vehicle enters land owned by KFC - which includes the drive-through queue as well as parking bays.
Mr Watson says he was unaware of this and wants to warn other drivers who may unwittingly incur a fine. He said the couple had been sitting in a long queue at the fast-food outlet before pulling into a parking in a bay for a short time to eat.
Images attached to the letter show Mr Watson's Suzuki entering and leaving the branch via Jubilee Close, but do not show the parking bays.
"We spent a long time waiting in the queue," he said. "My girlfriend and I then parked in the car park to eat our food - she does have a medical condition that means she is unable to eat quickly - but there's no way we would have taken 90 minutes to sit and eat a few pieces of chicken.
"A few days later I received a letter in the post saying we had stayed in the car park longer than 90 minutes. You have 14 days from the date of issue to pay a 60 fine, before it goes up to £100. At this point there were only nine days left."
Mr Watson appealed the charge but was unsuccessful.
"When I rang and spoke to Weymouth KFC they said there's nothing they can do about it because it's a third party company - but they also said they were only able to revoke three parking fines each month and that they had already reached that limit," he added.
"Even if they cancel it, after the way they've handled things I won't be using KFC in Weymouth ever again as I don't want to risk being landed with a £60 fine for waiting at the drive-through for £4 chicken.
"The way the letter looks, it does look fairly official - the fact they're called Civil Enforcement is quite intimidating - I think a lot of people will be scared straight away and end up paying the fine as soon as they get the letter."
After the appeal was rejected, Mr Watson paid the fine, saying he felt "defeated."
In response, Civil Enforcement Ltd's press officer, Alun Marks, said: "We were instructed to carry out enforcement at this site, in accordance with the requirements set out by the local KFC, which was experiencing a frequent lack of available parking spaces.
"Landlords must have the right to protect their land. Systems such as ANPR (Automatic Number Plate Recognition) have been designed to make parking easier and more efficient, not as a hindrance. We are proud to be audited by both the DVLA and BPA as well as being an Approved Operator of the BPA. We rank number one in recent industry process performance statistics, as we have on many occasions.
"In this case, the driver parked in excess of the maximum stay allowance and the ticket was therefore correctly issued. It is unfortunate that the driver did not make their situation known in the store – as issuing a PCN could have been avoided.
"Drive through lanes are part of the car park and both them and the car park itself has to kept free and available through rotation at all times for the benefit and fair use of all customers. The driver concerned claims they entered the car park, ordered food and ate in the car. They remained on the fast food car park for 1hr and 53mins, ignoring all signage to the maximum permissible stay duration.
"The driver has the option to a second appeal and to also take the matter to POPLA if they so wish. So far the driver has received three standard industry letters and no other correspondence."
- At the time of going to print KFC responded and said it aims to investigate Mr Watson's case.
Have you received a parking fine at KFC? Email me: ellie.maslin@dorsetecho.co.uk / whatsapp: 07732602210
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