Sunshine Coast McDonald’s franchisee responds to parking fine controversy

While the community is in uproar over $77 parking fines at their local McDonald’s, one Sunshine Coast franchisee says there is more to the story. Read what he said.

A Sunshine Coast McDonald’s franchisee has responded to outraged customers complaining about being fined for parking at restaurants – despite claims they did nothing wrong.

Several disgruntled Sunshine Coast residents have reached out to the Sunshine Coast Daily with stories of how they were slapped with a $77 parking fine at various McDonald’s stores.

This sparked further outrage among Sunshine Coast residents, who slammed the fast-food giant on social media.

But McDonald’s franchisee Gary Binet said there is more to the story.

Mr Binet said he understood the concept of time-limited parking in McDonald’s was a new concept, but it was necessary to protect his business.

Gary Binet (pictured here in 2012) said he sympathised with genuine customers’ frustrations, but time-limited parking was necessary to protect business.

“People abuse our car parks continually … (it has) got to the point where it’s costing me business,” he said.

However, Mr Binet acknowledged sometimes legitimate customers were affected by this, and he said he was working hard alongside Smart Parking to ensure genuine patrons could have their fines appealed as soon as possible.

Some McDonald’s restaurants even validate parking by giving your number plate to staff.

“I don’t want to lose my customers,” he said.

One of those customers was Buderim mother Charlotte Demytko, who was fined $77 after visiting the Sippy Downs McDonald’s drive thru twice in one day and was accused of spending more than three hours at the restaurant.

A Smart Compliance Management spokesman said there was no easy explanation as to why this had happened to Mrs Demytko, but encouraged her to appeal the notice as soon as possible.

“Every appeal is reviewed, and if that was the case, someone would review it,” he said.

Each appeal takes between 48 and 72 hours to reach an outcome.

However, the spokesman rejected claims there was a “glitch” in the system which lead to legitimate customers being stung.

“I think the perception from a lot of people is it’s public land, but it’s not, it’s private land; and obviously the land owner or the facilities owner has asked us to assist in managing that,” he said.

Anyone who wants to appeal an infringement notice is encouraged to contact the company directly.