Could you advise me upon a suitable course of action with a penalty notice I have incurred due to outstaying my welcome in a McDonalds car park? On 15 September I parked in a McDonalds car park attached to its restaurant on Wandsworth Rd, London. I made my purchase in the restaurant and returned to sit in the car. In truth I only intended to stay for less than an hour but I actually fell asleep in the car and left after 121 minutes. The permitted parking time was 75 minutes although it has now been increased to 90 minutes. At the time I had no idea that my arrival and departure times had been caught on camera. Therefore MET parking services who administer the car park obtained my registration details via information released by the DVLA.

When I received the penalty notice (a delay here because I am a driving instructor and the vehicle is registered in the name of the proprietor of the driving school I work with) I looked at recent advice you had given to other correspondents in your Saturday Motoring advice column, and sent a cheque for £10 for a minor infringement of the contract. I stated that the car was occupied by me throughout the period except for the time to make my purchase. MET parking services returned my £10 stating that they do not accept partial payments and that I was required to pay the reduced sum of £50 within 14 days (which expired on 26/10 or the full amount of £100 after that date).

So I'm wondering what I should do from here. Do I call their bluff, offer the £10 token payment again and re invite them to pursue me for the remainder through the small claims of the County Court? Or do I back down and see if they will accept the reduced sum of £50 (which I cannot afford) although the time limit for that has now expired? My inclination is to do the former. I do acknowledge that it would be wrong to leave the car in the car park unattended and leave McDonalds premises on foot for an extended period, but also feel that this method of obtaining registration details by private companies for their own financial benefit is an infringement of personal liberty, and also the Data Protection Act.