A McDonald’s customer was arrested after he dialled 999 to complain kitchen staff had put onions on his Big Mac burger.

Leslie McDonagh, 53, told the emergency operator he had got the ‘wrong meal’ and could not eat onions due to a ‘severe allergy.’

Officers arrived at the Oxford Road branch in Manchester city centre to discover McDonagh had also challenged the restaurant’s manager to a fist fight over the order.

Leslie McDonagh, 53, told the emergency operator he had got the ‘wrong meal’ and could not eat onions due to a ‘severe allergy’ (Picture: Cavendish Press)

When the patrol asked him to leave, he fell to the floor then grabbed an officer’s leg as they attempted to get him to his feet.


He subsequently spat in the PC’s face as he was being escorted out of the premises on December 21 last year.

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Inquiries revealed McDonagh, from Atherton, near Bolton, who works for a finance firm in Manchester, had left a work party early to meet his wife for their wedding anniversary – but then went into the McDonalds restaurant for a snack on his way home.



He claimed to have drunk six cans of lager in the run up to the incident.

At Manchester magistrates court McDonagh admitted assault by beating of an emergency worker and being drunk and disorderly in a public place.

He was ordered to complete a 12-month community order plus 120 hours unpaid work. He was also fined £190.

Officers arrived at the Oxford Road branch in Manchester city centre to discover McDonagh had also challenged the restaurant’s manager to a fist fight over the order (Picture: Cavendish Press)

The incident took place at around 10.30pm on ‘Mad Friday’ – one of the busiest nights of the year as many people are out celebrating finishing work for the Christmas period.

Prosecutor Paul Sumner said: ”Police informed him that his food order being incorrect was not a valid reason to call them and they requested him to leave.

‘They tried to escort him out of the premises, he’s fallen to the floor and attempted to grab hold of the legs of the officer.

‘The police then were able to hold the defendant by his arms in the scuffle and escort him out of the store.

‘The officers were struggling with the defendant and whilst they were doing this, he spat in in one of the officers face. He was arrested for being drunk and disorderly and assaulting an emergency worker.’

He was ordered to complete a 12-month community order plus 120 hours unpaid work. He was also fined £190 (Picture: DPA/PA)

In mitigation defence lawyer Claire Parrot: ‘One thing that wasn’t clear is that it wasn’t just an argument about the order being wrong, the defendant has severe allergies.

‘He specifically asked for something to not be in his food and it was. That is how this started.

‘Of course he now realises that this was not a police matter. He called them as did the McDonald’s staff.

‘His memory of the incident isn’t complete but he was quite clearly utterly embarrassed and ashamed. This was not a planned attack on the officer, he says that he’s not a violent person.’

The case comes just weeks after the Metropolitan Police said emergency call handlers fielded 21,733 unnecessary 999 calls between January 1 and November 30 last year.

One called to say they were outraged that KFC had run out of chicken whilst others moaned about breakfasts not being served quickly enough, and a bus driver whistling at the wheel of his vehicle.

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