RESIDENTS say customers from a McDonald’s takeaway near York keep parking and throwing litter on nearby verges - and have turned abusive when asked to stop, with one even threatening to knife a resident.

People living near the business on the A64 at Bilbrough Top, between York and Tadcaster, say the problems have worsened since it reopened as a drive-through after the lockdown.

Local resident Brian Percival said its car park had remained shut and so customers had been parking up in farm entrances and on verges to eat their meals and then throwing the refuse away before driving off.

He said residents regularly met with verbal abuse and one was threatened with a knife.

“I moved on seven cars in and around the vicinity of our farm entrances on the service road,” he said. “Some were abusive when I asked them to politely move on.”

He said there was talk on social media of McDonald’s printing the number plates on packaging and receipts to "assist with the prosecution of the miscreants," adding: “I really do think that such a move will be well supported.”

A McDonald’s spokesman said it had reviewed the idea of printing registration plates on its packaging but had not been able to implement it. “We are open to solutions that encourage our customers to act more responsibly,” he said.

“We are continuing to explore this and other solutions to combat litter in our communities, and would welcome any further suggestions on this or any other matter.” He added that McDonald’s was the first restaurant company to introduce litter patrols in the UK in 1982 and its employees were estimated to walk almost 5,000 miles a week on litter patrols, and it was a long-term supporter of government litter campaigns.