A MOTHER-of-two was not loving it after a visit to McDonald’s.

Karen Potts, of Sunflower Close, Chelmsford, found herself facing a £50 fine for staying longer than the allocated time at the fast food restaurant, at Boreham.

Karen, 41, had gone there with nine-year-old Hannah and five-year-old Caitlin to meet a friend.

The friend was late and after they had eaten, the children went to the play area.

But although Karen accepts she stayed longer than the 75 minutes allowed – about another 40 minutes – she thinks the penalty is too harsh.

She said: “I can understand they need to protect the car park from people just parking and leaving their vehicles there for hours, but this was not the case.

“I didn’t see any notices when we went in or in the restaurant or play area, although I accept there are some outside in the car park. They are high up and I am not very tall.

“I think £50 is excessive and if you don’t pay in 14 days, it goes up to £100.

“If they don’t want families to stay longer, then they should not have a play area.

“It has put me off going again.

“I should have taken the children to the park for the day. It would have been a lot cheaper. It is my first ever parking ticket.”

A statement from McDonald’s said: “We very much regret that a customer received a parking charge as our main priority with this scheme is to clearly communicate the restrictions and help our customers avoid charges. To do this, we post clear warning signs which explain the restrictions.

“If any customer does want to visit for an extended period, we can usually make arrangements at the time, but once a parking charge has been issued it is a matter for the parking contractor, as we do not profit from the scheme or run the appeals process.

“In line with this we can’t comment on individual cases, but we would urge this customer to appeal using the process outlined on the parking charge.

“We introduced the restrictions because of unfair use of our car park which didn’t leave spaces free for our customers.”