I was fined £80 at McDonald’s for hosting my son’s 8th birthday party at their restaurant – I will never go there again

AN AUSSIE mother has clapped back at a third-party parking company hired by McDonald’s after she and her guests received fines in the mail.

Leisa Maia hosted her son’s eighth birthday party at the fast food joint in Indooroopilly, Queensland on January 20th.

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The party, which lasted less than three hours, then resulted in the mum and guests being fined £80 in the mail just weeks later.

“We were there for a few hours, bought several rounds of food and desserts, sang happy birthday, had a good time and left thinking this was the easiest birthday party ever, what a great time,” Maia said .

The party was at the restaurant the entire time and claim they were never made aware of a parking limit.

“We were also fined for exceeding an obvious parking restriction that we didn’t even know existed.

“We didn’t see any parking signs or notices,” she added.

It was Maia’s cousin who first received a fine, from the third-party parking group called Smart Compliance Management.

Maia and her cousin have both appealed the fines, which she described as “not really a trial”.

The couple were required to provide receipts and photo and video evidence of their time at the restaurant to prove they ate there.

Maia then received a “dry reply” three days later, which read in Maia’s words: “Hey, you’ve exceeded the parking limit.

“Pay or we’ll send your details to collection agencies.”

They were then told that this was the end of the appeals process.

Maia said she was upset with the way the situation was handled, as well as fears of debt collection and the potential impact it could have on her credit score.

“I feel like I’m also representing our family members who have also been fined,” she said.

“Some of them were from overseas, didn’t speak English, so McDonald’s was a perfect place. It’s food they’re familiar with.”

The Queensland state government has also called private parking companies opportunistic and obnoxious and has promised to take action.

Transport Secretary Mark Bailey said: “People are being intimidated into believing they are being fined when in fact they should not be fined by law.”

After the parking ticket madness, Maia said the McDonalds venue “lost our loyalty, they lost the loyalty of our family members and after they put a post on the community site, no one is willing to throw a birthday party there anymore.” .

This comes after a man was fined £100 at McDonald’s for eating his food too slowly in January.

Shapour Meftah had gone into the fast-food restaurant and was fined just days later after exceeding the 90-minute time limit.

Another driver was also fined a hefty £50 after McDonald’s claimed he parked for 14 hours.

However, Ben Butler-Sutton, 32, claims he only spent about 20 minutes getting his Big Mac and McChicken sandwich meal.