‘They should shut it down’ - Edinburgh reacts to McDonald’s losing 24-hour licence after bottling incident

Readers have been reacting after an Edinburgh McDonald’s restaurant was stripped of its 24-hours a day licence after staff failed to call police when a customer was hit over the head with a glass bottle.
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Ian Paton, 30, called in at the fast food outlet for a chicken burger on the way to his girlfriend’s in Willowbrae after finishing his work as a bouncer in the city centre. But another customer punched him repeatedly and hit him over the head with a bottle.

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Edinburgh McDonald’s worker tells bottle victim: ‘I’ll phone the police after I’...
Ian Paton was bottled in the McDonald's restaurant.Ian Paton was bottled in the McDonald's restaurant.
Ian Paton was bottled in the McDonald's restaurant.

Speaking to the Evening News today, Mr Paton said the McDonald’s manager told him ‘I’ll phone police after I’ve served this customer’ - but he ended up calling them himself. He described the response by McDonald’s as “Utterly disgusting and disappointing.”

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No arrests have been made in connection with the incident and police inquiries are still ongoing.

The fast food restaurant on London Road will now have to shut its doors at 2am on Fridays and Saturdays and 1am the rest of the week after councillors refused to approve a 24-hour application, following a trial period.

In a letter to the council’s licensing sub-committee, Police Scotland said the extended hours has “resulted in further disturbance and nuisance to residents” and has “increased demand for police resources”.

Evening News readers have now been reacting to both the loss of the 24-hour licence and the bottling incident itself.

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One reader, Luna Mark Sarah, said: “Horrific. I hope the attackers are all caught quickly and punished severely. The McDonald’s manager should lose their jobs instantly.”

Brenda Johnstone said: “They should shut it down! What the h**l were the staff thinking about!!”

But Jackie Dick responded: “The staff are young and inexperienced... and not paid enough to put themselves in harms way.”

Andrena Preston said: “The McDonald’s staff were totally out of order!!! But....what customer would still stand there and continue to order food with all that going on?”

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Jim Shanley said: “The entire shop should be closed and all staff on training on how to be responsible human beings!!”

Jane Dickson said: “Disgusting.”

But Angela Brown wrote: “These places aren’t pubs but they are dealing with drunks due to their hours they are also inexperienced young people serving and managing, the managers have no experience of dealing and probably don’t get paid enough to deal with the likes and McDonald’s don’t care as the mess can always get moped up.”

And John Barr wrote: “Blame McDonald’s instead of all the clubs and pubs in town. Blame McDonald’s instead of society.”

Other readers were unhappy about the removal of the late hours licence.

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Tagging her pals, Lisa Munro said: “This isn’t good news for us, where we going to go after a night out?”

Kyra Skellett said:”Looks like late night McDonald’s is out the picture.”

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