McDonald's issues apology to Wigan paramedic who was refused service for "being in the wrong drive-through lane"

The key worker, who asked not to be named, was looking forward to a hot meal after a long night shift, and decided to visit the fast food restaurant on Gower Street in the early hours.

After placing an order through the McDonald’s official app, she pulled up around a meter away from the service window to collect the takeaway, as her emergency vehicle was too high to fit into the drive-through lane.

When she arrived at the third window to collect the food, she was told it could not be handed over because she was in the incorrect lane.

The paramedic said: “All they needed to do was hand the bag out the window to our vehicle, which was next to the drive-thru lane, one metre from the window.

“They refused to serve us our food which we’d already paid for, because we weren’t in the right lane!”

She added: “A night shift on a Sunday when all other shops are shut, they were happy for us to go hungry for the sake of a metre gap between the window and our ambulance! What an absolute joke!”

Fortunately, an Uber Eats driver spotted the stand-off and went into the building for the food.

The company today issued an apology, saying that on most occasions, staff do serve people parked up outside if they have ordered via the app.

Another NWAS colleague shared similar experiences when trying to order from McDonald's. She felt the company should at least be able to accommodate larger vehicles to make it easier for 999 personnel to collect meals.

She said: “When working nights, sometimes the only food supply for most ambulance crews is McDonald’s as it usually gets to after 1am before we get the chance to pick up food.

“Yes, we know it’s not the healthiest choice but we very often go over eight hours before getting a break, or even a brew, so by the time we are allowed a break we are starving and in need of fast, hot food.

“Due to the size of our ambulances we are unable to get them through the drive-through road as we are too tall and this has now resulted in us being refused service by McDonald’s, leaving some ambulance crews going over 12 hours without food.

“I know most people may say that we should take our own food with us but I have an answer for that. We do if we get chance to prepare it before our shift, however it’s not always possible.

“We want McDonald’s to accommodate for larger vehicles so we can get a meal during our busy night shifts. Uber Eats staff are allowed into the restaurants but us mere unimportant, busy, tired and hungry ambulance staff are refused a hot meal.”

A McDonald’s spokesperson said: “Unfortunately, the ambulance was unable to fit into the drive-thru, and the restaurant was closed for people walking in at this time. To help keep our staff and our customers safe, we cannot allow people to use our Drive Thru whilst on foot.

“Some restaurants do serve people parked up outside the restaurant if they have ordered via the app, and our team at the Gower Park restaurant have done this previously for ambulance crew and will continue to do so in future. We apologise that on this occasion there was some confusion and this did not take place. Our customer services team are in contact with the customer to pass on this apology.”

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