A FAMILY have been hit with a £100 fine for parking in Denny's Renfrew car park - while eating at the restaurant.

James McColligan had lunch with his wife, daughter and grandchild at the highly-anticipated eatery on January 15 but was shocked to return home from a holiday to Sweden demanding he fork over £100 for parking in the restaurant's own car park.

The outraged diner has vowed not to pay the fine, claiming it was the fault of staff who failed to inform him he must provide his registration plate details in order to avoid the charge.

He told the Evening Times: "Apparently, you're supposed to be asked when you go in if you've got a car so your registration can be added to the database but no one asked us and there were no signs.

"It's a joke. I was going to go down yesterday and see if the staff asked me about my car details before calling on the manager because I think it'll be happening to a few people.

"We used to eat there before it was changed over and there were no signs or cameras so they must've just been added for Denny's.

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James, from Lambhill, was told it would be a 30-minute wait for a table when he arrived at the Braehead restaurant last week.

Due to a full waiting room, the family opted to wait in the car until they were alerted to a free table and placed their orders.

James claims the meal - which came to around £50 - was "rubbish" and the group agreed they wouldn't return when they exited the restaurant around an hour later.

However, when he returned home from his weekend away yesterday he was greeted with a parking notice including a £100 fine - reduced to £60 for early payment - for parking in the restaurant facility.

And, he's not the only one.

Amid a slew of negative reviews, one Trip Advisor user named Arran M was also caught out by the parking camera.

Read more: No apology as Denny's hits back at 'unforgiving' customers amid 'terrible' reviews row

In an online post, he wrote: "Went for a late lunch at Denny's a couple weeks back. Parked in the customer car park and entered the building. Was greeted by a girl at the front desk who handed over some menus and asked us to wait in the waiting area for 15 mins, no hassles - at no point did anyone mention anything about adding a car registration on to any kind of database, nor did I see any obvious device set up to do so ... I thought my experience was over until I got home from work on Saturday to a brown envelope, Denny's had sent me a complementary parking charge of £100.

"Exceptional customer service, bravo. Stick your pancakes, I wont be back."

Customers are now calling on the fees to be waved for all customers who were not properly informed of the policy and the cameras to be removed.

Denny's has been contacted for comment.