Only Fools and Horses actor receives ‘devastating’ fine after McDonald’s parking debacle

Only Fools and Horses actor Patrick Murray has received a “devastating” fine after being instructed to park in a disabled spot at McDonald’s.

The Mickey Pearce actor, who underwent surgery to remove a cancerous tumour last year, revealed on Friday (12 January) he was told to park in the space by an employee at the fast food restaurant while he waited for his food in 2017– but “received a parking ticket” after doing so.

Murray, 67, complained to the establishment’s manager at the time after being fined for less than £100, but has since received “countless letters” from a private parking film demanding he pay the sum, which has now been inflated to £2800.

Expressing his frustrations over the matter, Murray wrote on X/Twitter: “Five years ago, I received a private parking ticket for parking on a disabled spot at McDonald’s.

“I am getting countless letters from a company demanding I pay £2800 in or face having my personal goods removed. There was no court order to say I owed this debt.”

Murray said that the fine could be a “devastating” sum “for many people”, and urged tighter restrictions be placed on private parking firms.

He wrote: “Should McDonald’s be using private parking companies that employ these nasty tactics to get money out of their customers?”, adding: “This kind of harassment has to stop.”

The Independent has contacted McDonald’s for comment.

In 2023, the actor revealed he had been diagnosed with cancer for a second time, telling his fans he had surgery to remove the tumour and half his liver.

“I kept this under my hat that they’d discovered another primary cancer last year,” he wrote, praising the medics at King’s College Hospital.

In 2021, Murray said that, after scans caught a cancerous lung tumour in its early stages, he had undergone an operation to have it removed, followed by chemotherapy.

Subsequent scans found another tumour in his liver that was unconnected to his lung cancer and also treatable.

He received transcatheter arterial chemoembolisation (Tace), a minimally invasive procedure performed in interventional radiology to restrict a tumour’s blood supply.

Murray made his first Only Fools and Horses appearance in 1983, starring in 20 episodes right through 2003.

Last year, Sir David Jason, who played Del Boy in the sitcom, delayed a fan convention dedicated to the show so he could undergo eye surgery. Meanwhile, Rodney actor Nicholas Lyndhusrt returned to screens in the reboot of US sitcom Frasier, which is available to stream on Paramount+.