The European Metropolis of Lille must pay €27,000 to McDonald’s for a cycle path incident

The administrative court of Lille has sentenced the European Metropolis of Lille (MEL) to pay €27,000 in compensation at the McDonald’s in Ronchin (North), whose turnover had suddenly fallen in the summer of 2018 when the cycle path was created on rue Sadi-Carnot.

Why the European Metropolis of Lille must pay for Ronchin Mc Do

Between July and September 2018, the MEL had in fact carried out work which had led to “the‘complete interruption of traffic’ between the Sadi-Carnot roundabout and the ADEO roundabout in both directions (…) then one-way traffic from Lezennes to Ronchin,” the fast-food outlet pointed out. However, it is “separated from the residential area of ​​Ronchin by the A1 motorway,” the interchange of which serves the south-east of Rue Sadi-Carnot; its clientele is therefore “overwhelmingly” made up of motorists.

The project thus involved ” great difficulties of access “at Mc Do” and a drop in attendance »: his « passing customers » do not go « by bicycle » to his establishment, recalled his boss, but « by road and motorway given the distance of the restaurant, located in an economic activity zone bordering an agricultural zone and a natural zone with very few dwellings nearby ». Under these conditions, the fast-food restaurant « does not benefit » from the creation of the MEL cycle path.

The restaurant was asking for €234,000

Under these conditions, the restaurant had brought the case before the Lille administrative court on 1 July 2021 to receive €234,000 in compensation: this sum corresponds to the “loss of gross commercial margin” linked to the work. Patrick Becquart’s company Five had in fact stressed that it had only been informed of the date of the work “ten days before” and that this had “prevented it from taking preventive measures” such as “the reduction of its staff » for the month of August 2018.

“It has not been demonstrated that customers (…) would travel to its establishment by car,” the European Metropolis of Lille defended itself. The duration of the total interruption of traffic had also been “limited to 35 days,” according to its calculations, and “all the establishments located” on rue Sadi-Carnot had been treated the same way. The Lille judges also had to “take into account the provision of employees in other restaurants » and the “attractiveness” generated by “the renovation of the sector”.

Serious harm for Mc Do

In a judgment dated May 15, 2024, which has just been made public, the administrative court of Lille nevertheless confirms that the McDonald’s in Ronchin has suffered “serious harm” and which “exceeds the normal constraints” to which residents of ‘a public construction site must be expected… but only in August 2018.

The judges took into account “the duration of the interruption of access to the restaurant operated by the company (…), which maintains without being contested that it was informed late of the start date of the works”, but also “the significance of the drop in turnover”.

“The circumstance (…) that the company (…) could have assigned its staff to another establishment (…) has no impact on the assessment of the damage,” underlines the court. The MEL will therefore have to pay €27,000 to Mc Do and €1,500 for its legal costs.

MJ (PressPepper)

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