Yet Another Cycling Forum
General Category => Audax => Topic started by: RedT3 on 31 May, 2021, 08:26:43 am
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Doing a DIY at the weekend, I was late for my planned takeaway pizza. I stopped at 2 "24 hour McD", only to discover they now only serve drive-thru (car only) in the wee hours. While I found some petrol station forecourt sustenance, it is not the same as having somewhere to sit, get hot food, thaw out the feet and use the toilet. The only option I can think of near me (Glossop) would be Dinky's Dinah Shrewsbury. Any recs, please.
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I'd say motorway services stations are the best bet for indoor plumbing - though you'll need to head towards the M6 for that - hot food options may vary
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As above Motorway services. Knutsford services would be in range of Glossop. There is a back way in to the services.
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Look on the bright side, they did actually serve you.
I and others have been refused service. Because making us cycle another 15 miles (or whatever) along a main road to the next option is obviously a brilliant idea*. It must be far safer than serving us after we've queued up for mumble minutes like all the other traffic.
*thus rephrase: tiredness kills, so take a break (unless you're on a bike in which case keep going) Because if you actually in need of a break you're unlikley to be able to be bloody minded enough to stand firm/argue the toss with whoever they send out to give you the good news.
fwiw the McD somewhere near Kings Lynn does let you in at any hour of day or night, or it did when I stopt there mumble years back.
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I stopped at 2 "24 hour McD", only to discover they now only serve drive-thru (car only) in the wee hours.
That's always been the case with some, is it now a general policy? Might be worth ringing the specific McDonalds in advance, there's a map with phone numbers on their website, though I've never tried ringing one.
If you're heading towards Shrewsbury, there is of course Hollies on the A5 near Cannock, I haven't been for at least 15 years, but apparently it's not quite the experience it used to me.
There's a few Motorway services off the Motorway, so you don't need to find the back way in, Castle Donnington is one such.
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I was refused at the drive-thru at both Gainsborough and Rotherham. Told "It is not safe to serve bikes" and "We are not covered by insurance". I declined an argument and left to find petrol stations. I believe it is now general policy to only serve drive thru at night - which makes business sense... no tables to clean or unsavoury late-night clientele to deal with and the litter is now disposed on roadside verges from what I have seen. As for not serving cyclists at the drive thru window - It's a very tiny part of business to lose. So I am guessing that's how they have now decided to operate their late-night business. It will make planning 400km rides tricky in the future - Llanfair 400 for example uses the McD at Flint.
For next month's 400, I think I'll extend the plains 300 route and use Dinky's.
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Id a similar-ish experience on Friday night / Sat a.m. up here in Scotland when stopping at Perth & Forfar overnight.
Perth McDs was doing take away throughout the night so better than nowt but Forfar was drive through only.
Thankfully both had an adjacent petrol station type set up where getting a hot drink indoors and some grub was possible (the Forfar one just opened a few months ago mind you).
Motorways (and associated) services are scarcer here so its something of a PITA if Maccy Ds aren't going to let us in.
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For the record, and to remember our thanks, I had deliberately routed our Easter Arrow through Melton Mowbray with the expectation of getting a late evening sit down 'meal' at the McDonald's in town. I had dropped in a few weeks before on a recce ride to check opening times were as on-line advertised, and the manager was pleased to confirm: open till 2330. I phoned a week before Easter (2019): same.
The plan (our start time driven by making that late evening stop) envisaged getting there before 2300 but was knocked back slightly by the rest of the crew demanding an unprogrammed ice cream stop in Banbury's sunshine hours earlier.
On arrival at said McDs at about 2310 with the darkness dropping temperatures down to maybe +5, only those who know me can imagine my err 'disappointment' to find that, yes they were open, but only at the cars only drive thru hatch. The manager (not the same person as the one to whom I'd spoken) relented (there were no other prospective customers to create the obvious dangers of cycles mixing with motor traffic) and was kind enough to let us use the 'hatch'. Then, overcome with compassion for these cyclists who'd cycled 200+ miles (sob story etc) and we had an senior citizen with us too, she let us bring bought 'meals' and bikes indoors (to sit down and loo) while they cleaned around us. We were duly grateful (and tipped!) Happy days (night): we left around midnight to enjoy the moon illuminating our way to York, via the (genuinely 24 hour open) Markham Moor services and Thorne McDs.
https://ridewithgps.com/routes/29775500?beta=false
And no, we still haven't had our homologated brevets back.
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fwiw the McD somewhere near Kings Lynn does let you in at any hour of day or night, or it did when I stopt there mumble years back.
Not currently unfortunately, because of Covid.
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I was refused at the drive-thru at both Gainsborough and Rotherham. Told "It is not safe to serve bikes" and "We are not covered by insurance". I declined an argument and left to find petrol stations. I believe it is now general policy to only serve drive thru at night - which makes business sense... no tables to clean or unsavoury late-night clientele to deal with and the litter is now disposed on roadside verges from what I have seen. As for not serving cyclists at the drive thru window - It's a very tiny part of business to lose. So I am guessing that's how they have now decided to operate their late-night business. It will make planning 400km rides tricky in the future - Llanfair 400 for example uses the McD at Flint.
For next month's 400, I think I'll extend the plains 300 route and use Dinky's.
fwiw I did write to their help desk about it. The reply came up with lots of reasons that were applicable to pedestrians. And didn't make sense in the context of stopping off on the A11 to take a break. I wrote back and said as much. No further reply was forthcoming.
If anything the danger is in being ignored while you queue up. Which is over by the time you reach the order point and they don't take your order. Or would be negated by being a car-sized group of 4-5 bikes. etc. Alas it's not about logic. I do wonder if it isn't a misapplied ruling from when the sit-down part is actually open, which does make sense.
Does anyone want to write and ask them (McD) to confirm that although when there is seating space, cyclists should park up and come indoors, when there isn't then they should queue up with other vehicles, because cyclists will need a break just as much as drivers. (they may have made a note of my name, I don't know how these things work). McD can work out themselves what to do about town centre drive throughs.
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McDonald's is a franchise. Each franchise may apply the central rules differently.
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Re: Forfar services mentioned by John Stonebridge earlier, here's my experience from my DIY 400 2 days ago:
I had cause to visit the Forfar Audax Ecosse VIP lounge on my DIY 400 on Sunday. At around 11pm, the McD was 'open' so you could go into the building and avoid the no-bikes drive-thru policy. But it was only open for carry-out, so you had to take your unhappy meal out into the cold and eat it outdoors. They cheerfully told me I was welcome to use the outdoor seating. The petrol station / spar was fine, but the indoor Greggs seating area was all closed off at that time. There was a coffee machine, and next to it, a microwave. There were no microwaveable snacks available to microwave; the shelf was bare. I got a coffee from the machine, a cold sammich from the next shelf, and lurked out-of-sight to drink it indoors.
A minor oasis.
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My understanding of the reasoning behind the drive-through thing is that they don't want to be held liable if some motorised moron drives into a cyclist/horseist/etc in the queueueue. The Scottish Restaurant is heavily risk-averse (cf. temperature warnings on coffee cups), so this sounds entirely plausible, though it may simply be a case of nobody ever got fired for saying 'no'.
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McDonald's are advertising a Click and Serve feature on the app - place your order, they bring it out to you.
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Newtown Mc'Donalds (as used on the Plains 300) are no longer 24-hour opening. Covid and a new by-pass being the reasons and a lot fewer customers.
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My understanding of the reasoning behind the drive-through thing is that they don't want to be held liable if some motorised moron drives into a cyclist/horseist/etc in the queueueue. The Scottish Restaurant is heavily risk-averse (cf. temperature warnings on coffee cups), so this sounds entirely plausible, though it may simply be a case of nobody ever got fired for saying 'no'.
OFFTOPIC
I know you know this, but they are not Scottish. I don't think Scotland wishes to lay claim to them, either.
Anyway. The whole risk averse coffee cup thing should be caveated by the fact the "frivolous law suit case" oft-cited in parts elsewhere was a 79 year old women who suffered third-degree (full thickness) burns and required multiple skin grafts. She was a passenger in a stationary vehicle parked in the McD's car park at the time. They had also previously received more than 700 complaints about the temperature of their coffee, including multiple cases where that coffee had caused full thickness burns.
https://www.caoc.org/?pg=facts
I bloody well hope they are risk averse now. I wouldn't know, I've never been in one.
I now return you to your regular programming.
Sam
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McDonald's are advertising a Click and Serve feature on the app - place your order, they bring it out to you.
You have to occupy a special numbered parking space. No idea if they’ll give you your food if you occupy it with a safety bicycle or Shank’s Pony, though it’ll be a bit late by then.
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Anyway. The whole risk averse coffee cup thing should be caveated by the fact the "frivolous law suit case" oft-cited in parts elsewhere was a 79 year old women who suffered third-degree (full thickness) burns and required multiple skin grafts. She was a passenger in a stationary vehicle parked in the McD's car park at the time. They had also previously received more than 700 complaints about the temperature of their coffee, including multiple cases where that coffee had caused full thickness burns.
https://www.caoc.org/?pg=facts
I didn't know that. It begs the obvious question of whether they've changed their coffee machine settings, or just taken to printing a warning.
(There may be a coffee reason it needs to be that hot. I wouldn't know; I don't really do hot drinks, in part because I don't like scalding my mouth and losing my sense of taste for hours, which is evidently not how most people experience them.)
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Facetious comment from unconcerned person: would a velomobile count as a car?
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I suspect you’d have a hard time reaching the microphone and the pickup window in them.
Perhaps people in particularly silly sports cars have the same problem.
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Gainsborough McDonald's were open last night just before midnight :thumbsup:
And bonus points to me for pointing out to the staff the kids who had just nicked one of the yellow slip hazard signs.
The Macdonald's at Barton Mills were open at 3am when we did Green and Yellow Fields on 1 May. We had to eat outside but the few mins if warmth we're appreciated as it was below freezing.
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For fun read their FAQ, (https://www.mcdonalds.com/gb/en-gb/help/faq.html)
Are bicycles allowed through Drive Thru?
McDonald's supports the health and environmental benefits of cycling, however it is our practice not to serve cyclists using the drive-thru lane or drive-thru service windows.
Why? The drive-thru facility is designed for motor vehicles and, on balance, we are concerned that use by cyclists could compromise their safety through: the necessarily close proximity with motor vehicles; the limited visibility of cycles (particularly given the sharp corners of the drive thru lane); and the difficulties of carrying food and drinks and retaining full control of a bicycle. In reaching this view we have consulted with our own Hygiene and Safety Department, the Highway Code, and the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA).
Are mopeds allowed through Drive Thrus?
Yes, we can serve mopeds and motorbikes.
It's probably to do with stopping kids (a bicycle is a kids toy of course) I imagine they can't discriminate on age so do that by effectively requiring a licenced vehicle for service.
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Many years ago I was refused service at a Mc'drive through. I was told that I wasn't a vehicle so should go indoors.
I did.
I'd been on an off-road very muddy ride, so clothes and skin were dripping mud everywhere. Oh, and as I apparently wasn't a vehicle I took my bike in too, and that was in a worse condition.
On complaint from staff I simply told them that I was doing what the drive-through staff had told me to, and if they didn't want mud indoors then they should have served me at the window I first went to.
On the flip side, I should give a shout out to a fish-and-chip shop, forget exactly where as it was late and I'd been in the saddle all day, who when asked from the door were happy for me to bring the bike in instead of leaving it unattended outside amongst a crowd of yoofs. I apologised profusely when I realised the rain was dripping off it and asked them for cleaning cloths/mop so I could clean up after myself, and they just laughed and said it was fine and that they'd clean themselves as it was closing time.
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It's probably to do with stopping kids (a bicycle is a kids toy of course) I imagine they can't discriminate on age so do that by effectively requiring a licenced vehicle for service.
I hadn't thought of that. Makes perfect sense.
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Why? The drive-thru facility is designed for motor vehicles and, on balance, we are concerned that use by cyclists could compromise their safety through: the necessarily close proximity with motor vehicles; the limited visibility of cycles (particularly given the sharp corners of the drive thru lane); and the difficulties of carrying food and drinks and retaining full control of a bicycle. In reaching this view we have consulted with our own Hygiene and Safety Department, the Highway Code, and the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA).
I just saw yesterday a tweet about this; in a couple of Euro countries, not only do the Scottish Restaurant Franchises welcome bikes at drive-thrus, they've designed special bike-friendly packaging (to hang off bars maybe?) :thumbsup: 8)
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While googling, I got very excited when I saw this URL:
https://road.cc/content/news/166663-cycle-campaign-wins-legal-battle-against-mcdonalds
... but it was about the access clashing dangerously with a cycle-lane, unrelated to Drivin-Thru. Drat!
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My old local McDonalds - which was the first drive thru in the country - had a “walk thru”window (it actually said that) that backed onto the drive thru window. Looking like that bit’s been demolished on street view.
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I too got turned away at Maccy's in Penrith the other week. It was 1am... I asked (waved a tenner) at the driver of the car behind me, who bought what I needed.
For my next 400km I'll be taking a stove, gas and some noodles. A cemetery/garage should supply the water and I'll crawl into a bivvy to keep warm as it boils. Not ideal or speedy, but certainly self-sufficient.