The Nacton Road McDonald’s drive-thru in Ipswich is set to reopen again today at 11am after queues of eager customers in cars built up in the area yesterday, forcing the restaurant to close.

The chain has now reopened all of the McDonald’s drive-thru facilities in Ipswich, including Whitehouse, Ranelagh Road, Ravenswood and Cardinal Park.

The restaurants are set to be open between 11am and 10pm. However, the Ravenswood site was prematurely closed yesterday due to the high demand which caused traffic chaos.

Passers-by described queues of cars back to the Ravenswood roundabout, between Nacton Road and Ransomes Way, which apparently caused drivers trying to access the nearby Lidl to be stuck for up to 40 minutes.

A McDonald’s spokeswoman said yesterday: “With restaurant teams adjusting to new procedures to enable safe working and social distancing, things may take a little longer in our newly opened restaurants, and demand has already been very high.

“In line with our opening plans, we have been working closely with local authorities and the police, and this evening determined that it was necessary to close the drive-thru lane at the Ravenswood restaurant as queues began to cause disruption.

“We will re-open tomorrow in-line with our reduced opening hours of 11am to 10pm.”

As for today, the site will be operating a second ordering point and turning cars away when they hit capacity to avoid the same traffic issues.

The chain has introduced changes to make service safer for staff and customers including capping spend at drive-thru sites at £25, payment by contactless methods, smaller teams of staff and a limited menu.

The Cardinal Park restaurant is also offering McDelivery alongside drive-thru service.

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