Woman Takes Horse To McDonald’s After Being Refused Drive-Thru Facility, Fined For Causing Alarm And Distress To Customers

A British woman was fined for taking her pet horse into a McDonald’s outlet in the Greater Manchester area after staff denied her service at the drive-through window on horseback, reports said.

McDonald’s staff refused to serve the woman on horseback because it was against company policy, and they asked the woman to tie up the animal, UK’s the Mirror reported.

The tabloid stated that footage from a closed-circuit television inside the restaurant showed the woman and her daughter, who have not been named, leading the animal into the fast-food outlet, and that the horse defecated on the floor as soon as it entered.

Police officials were immediately called and the woman was fined for upsetting other customers, the Mirror report said.

"The sight and smell of this caused obvious distress and upset to customers trying to eat, as well as staff members,” the Greater Manchester police department said in a message on its Facebook page.

“Officers arrived at the location, and the woman was issued a fixed penalty notice for causing alarm and distress to other customers and staff."

According to reports, the company does not serve pedestrians, bicycle riders or customers on horseback at the drive-up window. The horseback exclusion was added to the policy over concerns that the health and safety of customers and employees would be at risk if a horse were startled by the noise of vehicles in a drive-through.