A Birmingham restaurant has been banned from offering a posh drive through where customers get to eat meals in a car park as it does "not fall within Covid guidelines".
Varanasi in Broad Street said it was launching the new 'in-car dining experience' delivering three-course meals to waiting customers to eat inside their vehicles behind the high-end Indian eatery.
The restaurant were selling it as a 'business class' dining experience.
But after BirminghamLive reported on the service last week, the owners were contacted by police - warning them it was going "against coronavirus regulations".
General Manager Abdul Wahab said West Midlands Police licensing team told tell them they could not go ahead - as originally planned.
Mr Wahab said he was "disappointed" by the ban and has been consulting with his solicitors.
He told us: "There is a grey area on what we're trying to do - there is nothing in law saying eating in your car is against the rules but we are not allowed to encourage people to go out over lockdown.
"We have been told we could potentially lose our licence by putting people in danger - even though our customers would be in their own bubbles in their cars."
Mr Wahab added: "No one is stopping people from eating their drive-through meal in a McDonald's car park so why stop us?
"If you went to McDonald's now you would see people eating in the car park. We are just offering an upmarket version of what fast food restaurants do.
"There is nothing stopping people from parking anywhere they want to eat. There is no law against eating in your car. When you are in a car you are in your own bubble - you are not socialising with people outside of the bubble.
"I guess the licensing committee hasn't got much else to do with all the clubs closed. I do feel it is very unfair and we are being picked on."
A West Midlands Police spokeswoman confirmed to BirminghamLive: "Our licensing team, who work in conjunction with the local authority, have contacted Varanasi and advised them to amend their drive-through meal plans in order to comply with the current coronavirus regulations."
Mr Wahab previously said the owners of a 50-space car park behind the restaurant had agreed to let Varanasi customers park there to enjoy their food and that he did not expect it to reach capacity.
He now says he will still offer drive-through curries - but will instead instruct customers to drive away with their food rather than stay in the car park.
The struggle of hospitality businesse s to stay afloat during the Covid pandemic has been well documented with bars, restaurants, cafes, and pubs closed for most of 2020.
Many businesses have adapted by offering takeaway and click and collect services.
Mr Wahab said: "We are an independent business trying to survive through Covid with new fresh and innovative ideas.
"If you look around that's what's all the top city restaurants have done - they innovate, they're creative, they move with the times.
"We were thinking outside the box, presenting our food as you would in a restaurant, so it's not just a bog-standard takeaway or drive-through experience and we are being punished for it.
"We're going to keep the concept of nicely presented ready to eat food on trays and customers can come to the car park after calling in their order to wait for their meal.
"But we will be advising them to take the food away with them and go wherever they like to eat it."
Mr Wahab said he successfully trialled the car park scheme last weekend.
He said: "On Saturday we had guests come to try the service as a soft launch. We didn't have them all come at once and we told everyone that they were not able to stay in the car park. Most people just went around the corner to eat.
"Our solicitor advised not to encourage anyone to stay in the car park but we will see what happens in the next couple of weeks.
I'm hopeful restrictions will ease in terms of households being able to mix with one other household outside their bubble so there will be less of an issue with our in-car dining plan."
On February 22 Boris Johnson will set out the Government's "road map" out of lockdown with March 8 targeted as the earliest possible date for reopening schools and then easing other measures on businesses such as hospitality.
What are the lockdown rules for hospitality venues?
Boris announced that business offering takeaways are allowed to open, but they must not serve alcohol to customers who collect their order.
You can order alcohol if our takeaway is delivered to your home.
When collecting your takeaway, you must also follow social distancing guidelines.
Drive-through services are also allowed - so hospitality staff can deliver food to your car but food cannot be consumed on a venue's premises.
No alcohol can be served for takeaway, drive-through or click and collect.
