A CUSTOMER has been awarded Pounds 6,500 and costs in a case against McDonald's arising from a Pounds 50 note tendered.
Judge Sean O'Leary heard in the Circuit Civil court that the man ended up leaving with gardai after using a genuine Pounds 50 note to give a friend's children a Saturday treat in McDonald's, O'Connell Street, Dublin.
Mr Paul Ryan, of Sean Treacy House, Buckingham Street, said he had initially been told the busy restaurant was having difficulty changing the note. He told his counsel, Mr Richard N. Kean, that shortly afterwards he noticed the in-store security cameras being directed on his table and gardai arrived.
The judge said the McDonald's fast-food outlet was grossly negligent in its attempts to check the validity of the Pounds 50 note.
It is almost inevitable you will be presented with (a) a forged note by a forger or his agent, (b) a forged note by an entirely innocent customer and (c) a genuine note you will have difficulty in validating."
Judge O'Leary warned shopkeepers they would approach the latter two categories at their peril and stressed the necessity of their having in place a proper and legitimate procedure for doing so.
Mr Ryan said he was spoken to openly in the restaurant about the note and, although he had left voluntarily with the gardai, the children had panicked and started to cry.
Mr Kean told the court the note was tested and found to be genuine, one of three Mr Ryan had been given by his employer the previous day. He said McDonald's had never apologised for its error.
Judge O'Leary said it had been shown in evidence that, forgeries apart, retailers experienced difficulty validating genuine notes and he accepted there was an unique and difficult situation created in respect of retailers dealing on a cash-only basis with customers.
"I think retailers such as McDonald's must have in place a policy to allow for the possibility that entirely innocent people will tender a forged note," Judge O'Leary said.
It was incumbent upon them to have a system in place whereby a customer could carry on with his or her business, let it be eating a meal or whatever, while they made such discreet inquiries as were legitimate and necessary.
He said the worst thing McDonald's did and could have done was not inform Mr Ryan of the possibility of forgery.
Afterwards, Mr Ryan said he had beep annoyed the matter was dealt with so publicly in McDonald's. I hope my action and the warnings of the judge help save others from going through such an embarrassing experience.