Express & Star

WATCH: Huge queues at Black Country McDonald's ahead of Monday closure

Hundreds of people queued for their final fix of McDonald's for the foreseeable future at drive-thrus across the Black Country and Staffordshire today.

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Long queues at McDonald's off Penn Road in Wolverhampton

Long lines of cars full of hungry fast-food lovers took advantage of a last chance to get their hands on a Big Mac or box of McNuggets ahead of the 7pm closure of all UK stores.

Footage from the McDonald's branch off the A449 Penn Road in Wolverhampton showed cars backed up onto the dual carriageway due to high demand.

WATCH: Huge queues in Wolverhampton

And similar scenes were reported across the region, including in Oldbury where cars were said to be blocking Birchley Island.

McDonald's announced its plans to close on Sunday due to the need for social distancing and was followed by a number of major businesses, including Nando's, Costa and Primark.

Long queues at McDonald's off Penn Road in Wolverhampton

McDonald's UK boss, Paul Pomroy, said: "Over the last 24 hours, it has become clear that maintaining safe social distancing whilst operating busy takeaway and drive-thru restaurants is increasingly difficult and therefore we have taken the decision to close every restaurant in the UK and Ireland by 7pm on Monday 23 March.

"I have been clear throughout this that we would only continue to operate whilst it was safe for our people and together with our franchisees, we feel now is the time to make this decision."

Long queues at McDonald's off Penn Road in Wolverhampton

Although it will be the last McDonald's for a while for those queuing, the restaurant will still be working with community groups to distribute food and drink to those that need it.

Nando's will shut more than 400 restaurants, saying "the health and safety of our customers and team is our highest priority".

Other closures include HMV, New Look, Debenhams and River Island.

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