Furious customers have hit out at KFC after being slapped with £100 fines for spending more than 45 minutes in the fast food chain’s car park.
Civil Enforcement Limited, which runs the KFC car park in Haverhill in Cambridgeshire, has a 45 minute parking restriction in place.
Any one who spends longer in the car park is given a £100 fine.
Paul Nash, 46, a test engineer, had been going to the fast-food giant with his partner and children, five and ten, a few times a month but has said he will never eat at KFC again
Customers have complained that 45 minutes is not enough time to queue up for their food, purchase it and then eat it.
They have now vowed never to return to KFC.
Paul Nash, 46, a test engineer, had been going to the fast-food giant with his partner and children, five and ten, a few times a month but has said he will never eat at KFC again.
He claims KFC’s customer care team have not taken his concerns seriously.
He said: ‘I will be using anybody else, just not KFC, ever, in any of their branches because of their corporate attitude of “it’s not our problem”‘.
‘Forty-five minutes is not a reasonable amount of time in which to get served and eat a meal’, he told the Cambridge News.
‘KFC were busy that day and short-staffed, so we waited in the queue, ordered food, ate and we had our two youngsters. They don’t rush their food, particularly when you are in a hurry. They wanted ice-cream so we ordered ice-cream afterwards and then we left.’
He added: ‘We didn’t think anymore of it until a few days later and I got a £100 fine in from the parking monitoring service.
‘Something like that needs a massive sign. There is no one there warning you and it’s hard to see any signs when you are running after youngsters, trying to make sure they don’t run out and get flattened by a car coming through the drive-thru.’
Furious customers have been issued with £100 fines for spending more than 45 minutes in the car park in the Haverhill KFC
Another customer, Bryan Hyland, was also slapped with a £100 fine for taking more than 45 minutes to eat his KFC in the same car park.
He said: ‘Forty-five minutes is a ridiculously short time to order and eat even fast food such as KFC.
‘I phoned the manager of the Haverhill franchise as soon as I received the parking charge notice.
‘He advised me that he had authority to request just two such notices per month to be rescinded, and would put my details forward for that as part of his November quota.
‘That privilege I declined, as by that time Civil Enforcement Ltd would have already been taking court action against me.’
He said, in future, he would need to either ‘wolf down his food’ or ‘go elsewhere.’
Furious customers have complained about receiving £100 fines for leaving their cars for more than 45 minutes in the Haverhill KFC car park
Angry customers have also complained about the parking restrictions at the Haverhill KFC on TripAdvisor.
In July, Mark wrote: ‘On our most recent visit we overstayed slightly and received a letter demanding £100 as compensation. What angers me is the 45 minute time limit and extortionate and disproportionate fine.
‘In summation then…quality of food and service was never worth a review previously but not worth risking a £100 fine for and I won’t be returning.’
In August, Damian wrote: ‘Today I got a £100 fine for using their car park for over 45 minutes! We waited half of that for our meal! What a joke.’
Andrew added: ‘All in all we were in there just short of an hour only to find two weeks later, a fine for £100 for using the car park. We won’t be back and neither will any of our friends or family.’
A spokesman from KFC said it is not responsible for parking charges.
He said: ‘Time restrictions on parking are there for the benefit of our customers, so there’s space available for them to park while eating.
‘Whilst we can understand the frustration, we don’t run the car park at our Haverhill restaurant, and are not able to waive the parking fine.’
Civil Enforcement has been contacted for comment.