A Just Eat driver is ditching his McDonald's deliveries after claiming that staff asked him to scale a 5ft fence to get to the restaurant.
Ben Andrews said drivers were told in July that they were no longer allowed to use the car park at the fast-food chain in Falkirk and instead forced to navigate a "degrading obstacle course" in order to successfully pick up their orders.
The 33-year-old said McDonald's bosses requested that delivery drivers park in a nearby industrial estate, with the only available route to the restaurant including a climb over a metal fence and clambering through a bush.
He said other drivers navigate the fence by dropping food on the other side before vaulting over.
Ben claims that when he raised concerns over the "inappropriate" setup, a staff member threatened to call the customer and say he was "refusing to deliver".
As a result, Ben decided not to take orders from the restaurant until the pick-up situation was resolved.
"I decided not to do it because it was degrading to climb over fences to access an area without safe parking," he told the Daily Record.
"I didn't want to waste my petrol. I could see from [where I was in] the Mcdonald's I wasn't prepared to scramble over fences with food in my hands. It's like a bit of an obstacle course.
"You've got to try and traverse over a metal fence and push yourself through the bush with a carrier bag, carrying milk, food and drink - it's not appropriate to do.
"We're being paid by a customer of Mcdonald's to collect their order. If they [the customer] came into the car park, the staff wouldn't say, 'you're not allowed to park here, go jump over a bush'.
"Until our food is in the hands of a customer, we're working on behalf of that customer. That was what was really frustrating to me.
"You've driven there, used your petrol, you don't get paid the distance to the restaurant and you turn up and the food is there waiting and they refuse to give it to you.
"It's then going to be wasted food on that company, or it's going to be cold or refunded. It's not just me [not] being paid, there's also that element of them now wasting food."
Ben said he contacted Just Eat about the situation but that it has still yet to be resolved. He added that the industrial estate used by drivers is being torn down, but that McDonald's is still refusing to allow them to park in their car park.
Instead, he claims drivers are forced to use "illegal" parking spots where they risk getting a ticket.
Ben said: "They're expecting you to make a five-minute one-way drive to get to this other place and try and traverse over all this stuff while you're holding food and drinks. If you then deliver it and there's a spillage, [there's going to be a problem].
"I'll take whatever actions I can take. I feel kind of powerless. There's not a huge amount I can do when no one replies to me.
"You make an official complaint with a company you're working under the name of, and you'd hope within four months something would have moved."
Just Eat confirmed they had received Ben's complaint and have raised the issue with their restaurant partner.
A McDonald's spokesperson said: "Due to the size of the carpark at our Grangemouth restaurant all spaces are reserved for restaurant customers. We have advised our delivery partners to find a safe and convenient place near the restaurant to park when collecting orders."
