Family of four 'shell out £265 for breakfast' at motorway diner flooded with complaints

A restaurant at a service station an hour from Greater Manchester has been flooded with complaints after customers claim they were hit with unfair parking fines.

Customers have vented their anger online after being charged £100 for parking at OK Diner, a US-style eatery at the westbound Northop Hall services off the A55 in Flintshire, North Wales. Some have vowed to contest their fines in court while most have said they will never return to the restaurant. One family making their annual trip to Llandudno said: “Breakfast for 4 people including a person in a wheelchair.... £265.”

The OK Diner chain promises classic 50s American fare “on the great British roadside”. Over the years it’s attracted a loyal clientele - but in recent weeks its online ratings have been tumbling.

On May 1, the Northop Hall site introduced new parking arrangements, with an APNR camera system managed by Smart Parking.

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To avoid a fine, customers were required to enter their vehicle registration details on a tablet. By June, social media was awash with negative comments from people who said they were genuine customers but that they’d been fined £100.

OK Diner says they had to take action due to people parking there and not using the restaurant and that signage is up in the car park to notify people of the restrictions.

Those complaining claimed they were unaware of the need to enter their car details – or had done so but were fined anyway. From the reviews examined by North Wales Live, no one has yet successfully contested their fine.

One woman complained to OK Diner Northop Hall on its Facebook page. “I decided to take the family for a meal at this place for