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BIRTHDAY girl Rebecca Turner with dad Matt
Birthday pizza parking costs family £200
Exclusive by Jennifer Williams18/ 9/2008
A LITTLE girl’s dream birthday party turned into a slice of disaster - after her family took 11 minutes too long eating their pizza.
Five-year-old Rebecca Turner’s family took her to the Pizza Hut on Great Portwood Street last month as the end to a special birthday treat.
They parked in the Pizza Hut car park and spent just over two hours in the restaurant, eating pizza and enjoying the family occasion.
So Rebecca’s dad Matt was amazed when both he and his sister-in-law received £75 fines for parking in the restaurant’s own car park - because they didn’t scoff their food within a two-hour time limit.
Matt, a deputy headteacher, said: "It’s a £200 pizza bill in effect - it’s staggering.
"Pizza Hut were extremely slow at serving their food so we waited for ages. They took a while to bring the food out and by the time we had waited for the bill we were there for just over two hours - well, two hours and 11 minutes to be precise.
"We were only in there that long because they were that slow! So if you take longer than two hours to eat a pizza it costs you £75."
He says the whole incident has cast a cloud over Rebecca’s birthday.
Car park owners Creative Car Parks say the rule exisits to prevent unauthorised parking by non-customers, and stresses that there are clear signs advertising the limit.
But despite being a genuine customer, Matt still had his appeal rejected.
"I thought it was totally unjust," said Matt, who is from Hyde. "I was absolutely gobsmacked and I feel very hard done by. It has put a real dampener on things and a sour note on my daughter’s fifth birthday party.
"I think Pizza Hut as a whole needs to look at this situation - it’s going to put one or two people off going there."
A spokeswoman for Pizza Hut said the two-hour restriction had been made without its knowledge.
She said: "We understand our customers’ concerns about the time restrictions that have recently been introduced at the car park outside our Great Portwood Street restaurant. These restrictions were introduced by the car park owners and without any consultation.
"As a family dine-in restaurant, we would not want our customers to feel hurried while eating their meal.
"Our property management agents have raised the issue with the landlord and have requested the time limit be extended. We hope the matter will be resolved shortly."
Most recent 2 of 5 user comments
On another, but related issue – take care if you have a disability parking badge, they are not valid on the Peel Centre car park on Portwood so you could end up with a large fine.
22/09/2008 at 13:10
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