Skip to content

Massive queues as McDonald's reopens Scottish drive-thru restaurants

Police directed long queues of cars at McDonald's drive-throughs

The re-opening of some Scottish McDonald's drive-thru restaurants has seen long queues of cars being directed by police.

The fast-food giant closed all of its outlets more than 10 weeks ago as lockdown restrictions came into force.

The company said it was now aiming to reopen 1,000 of its drive-thru or delivery outlets by Thursday.

McDonald's said plastic screens, face coverings, gloves and social distancing measures were in place.

Allow Twitter content?

This article contains content provided by Twitter. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read  and  before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’.

Last week the company said that it would reveal the locations of the restaurants that were to open their doors on the day of each reopening to help manage demand. They said they were also working with police and local authorities.

Police could be seen monitoring the queue at the Pollokshaws branch in Glasgow on Tuesday morning.

McDonald's McDonalds worker in PPEMcDonald's
Staff will be in PPE

Staff were also seen directing traffic at the restaurant in Bucksburn, Aberdeen as drive-thru lanes reopened and traffic backed up.

For the moment, McDonald said it was offering a limited menu only and was capping spending at £25.

Rivals, including Subway, Burger King, Pret A Manger, Nando's and Wagamama, have recently laid out plans to rapidly open more sites as restaurant chains get to grips with social distancing.

Police monitoring McDonald's queue
McDonalds worked with police to manage the reopening after more than 10 weeks of lockdown

A McDonald's spokeswoman said: "This is only possible following the hard work of the teams in our 44 pilot restaurants."

She added: "With fewer employees working in our kitchens and service areas, our teams will still need your patience and support as they continue to adjust to the new ways of working."

Other measures the company promised would be in operation were:

  • Social distancing in kitchens and service areas to help create a safe working environment for restaurant teams.
  • Perspex screens at Drive-Thru windows as well as screens and floor markings in specific areas in the restaurant and kitchen.
  • Staff will be asked to confirm they are fit and able to work and contactless thermometers will be used to take employee temperatures on arrival for every shift.