Ticket for not charging at a non-functional charger

[connectjunkie]

Inevitable I suppose - got a £100 ticket for parking my Model Y in a EV charging bay at Haywards Heath railway station (parking operated by Apcoa), but not actually being plugged into the non-working PodPoint charger. Didn’t bother to plugin because there was no light. Didn’t have time to move the car or I would have missed my train.

Will be challenging on the basis I wasn’t plugged in because the charger wasn’t working (with photo of charger and my car). Will see where we get to with this one.

 

[MrBadger]

Inevitable I suppose - got a £100 ticket for parking my Model Y in a EV charging bay at Haywards Heath railway station (parking operated by Apcoa), but not actually being plugged into the non-working PodPoint charger. Didn’t bother to plugin because there was no light. Didn’t have time to move the car or I would have missed my train.

Will be challenging on the basis I wasn’t plugged in because the charger wasn’t working (with photo of charger and my car). Will see where we get to with this one.

i know it’s Christmas but I’m sorry i do not have a lot of sympathy.

What if they could not fix the charge point because you parking there prevented them working to fix the unit.

Or they were going to fix it but by you blocking the space you would have prevented someone else later making use of the now fixed charge point.

 

[connectjunkie]

Understand your point, but also think you’re missing the detail that if I was plugged in I wouldn’t have got a ticket.

In any case, yet another reminder to follow the absolute letter of requirements for EV charging - even if they don’t make sense. Otherwise you’ll end up having to waste your time trying to sort out a ticket.

 

[WllXM]

Yes difficult to prove. Complex for a non EV user who therefore won’t fully understand the reason for appeal.

But there’s worse: people fake charging, plugged in to a charging point without having started a session with their app or card.
I hope they will train wardens soon to ticket them.

 

[ACarneiro]

Yes difficult to prove. Complex for a non EV user who therefore won’t fully understand the reason for appeal.

But there’s worse: people fake charging, plugged in to a charging point without having started a session with their app or card.
I hope they will train wardens soon to ticket them.

Always a tricky one, that.
What if they were charging but the charge subsequently finished successfully?
Should you be fined then?

 

[Andywil]

Always a tricky one, that.
What if they were charging but the charge subsequently finished successfully?
Should you be fined then?

If the notice states "parking only for electric vehicle charging"
Then if your are not charging for any reason you are in breach.
Using any other argument means you could park an ice vehicle and use the excuse that you couldn't charge it because it had no socket.

 

[ajmorr.is]

If the notice states "parking only for electric vehicle charging"
Then if your are not charging for any reason you are in breach.
Using any other argument means you could park an ice vehicle and use the excuse that you couldn't charge it because it had no socket.

Is this actually law in the UK (although I suppose on public land normal traffic laws don’t apply anyway)? I’ve seen the official looking signs at EV charge bays and they seem to very closely resemble those used in restricted on-street parking spaces, but no idea if any of this is enforceable by local councils.

 

[WllXM]

Is this actually law in the UK (although I suppose on public land normal traffic laws don’t apply anyway)? I’ve seen the official looking signs at EV charge bays and they seem to very closely resemble those used in restricted on-street parking spaces, but no idea if any of this is enforceable by local councils.

I believe it is now. They were changed for specifically that reason.
Initially they used to say "Electric Vehicles only". Therefore you could simply own an EV and park it there.
That's why they changed it to "EV Charging only".


People love finding loopholes...

 

[djtaylor]

I'm confident that this driver had finished charging his 12V lead acid battery and since then unplugged (South Mimms)

 

[ACarneiro]

If the notice states "parking only for electric vehicle charging"
Then if your are not charging for any reason you are in breach.
Using any other argument means you could park an ice vehicle and use the excuse that you couldn't charge it because it had no socket.

Indeed.
But it does add another layer of annoyance to having an EV. These are low power chargers which would be ideal for someone to charge whilst they are, say, at work. A full charge can take many hours.
Not very practical having to drop everything to go move the car half way through the day because it’s fully charged lest they get a fine…
And yes, I know, ideally they should be charging in an office car park but that is often not a possibility…

 

[ACarneiro]

I'm confident that this driver had finished charging his 12V lead acid battery and since then unplugged (South Mimms)

Don’t be Chemistry-ist

 

[WllXM]

Indeed.
But it does add another layer of annoyance to having an EV. These are low power chargers which would be ideal for someone to charge whilst they are, say, at work. A full charge can take many hours.
Not very practical having to drop everything to go move the car half way through the day because it’s fully charged lest they get a fine…
And yes, I know, ideally they should be charging in an office car park but that is often not a possibility…

Most 7kW chargers I've seen (at least in London) have a 2-4 hours max stay on the sign anyway.

 

[djtaylor]

Don’t be Chemistry-ist

You're right, it was probably the Lithium battery in his phone that he needed to charge there.

 

[djtaylor]

Most 7kW chargers I've seen (at least in London) have a 2-4 hours max stay on the sign anyway.

I'm trying to think which railway was advertising a 10 hour maximum but that still doesn't really work for many commuters. Would you risk an overstay charge on top of a late train? They're really not thinking this stuff through at all.

 

[Js1977]

I'm confident that this driver had finished charging his 12V lead acid battery and since then unplugged (South Mimms)

Couldn't find his charge port.... sod it!

 

[Andywil]

Indeed.
But it does add another layer of annoyance to having an EV. These are low power chargers which would be ideal for someone to charge whilst they are, say, at work. A full charge can take many hours.
Not very practical having to drop everything to go move the car half way through the day because it’s fully charged lest they get a fine…
And yes, I know, ideally they should be charging in an office car park but that is often not a possibility…

So you would find it acceptable to occupy the charger all day whe someone else could use for half a day.
U
You should only use for the time needed and then allow another driver to have access.

 

[NewbieT]

Most 7kW chargers I've seen (at least in London) have a 2-4 hours max stay on the sign anyway.

Which is sort of ridiculous- 30%ish. I left my car charging overnight at Tesco and got a ticket for overstaying. Appealed because I could show I had been charging 10h and Horizon parking dropped it. I was lucky.

Usually for Tesco’s overnight I’d pay the £2 on YourParkingSpace but this one wasn’t on there.

 

[yessuz]

I mean, it might in TOS for the parking...

 

[yessuz]

Which is sort of ridiculous- 30%ish. I left my car charging overnight at Tesco and got a ticket for overstaying. Appealed because I could show I had been charging 10h and Horizon parking dropped it. I was lucky.

Usually for Tesco’s overnight I’d pay the £2 on YourParkingSpace but this one wasn’t on there.

1. Park.
2. Plug in.
3 Start charging
4. reduce charging current on AC to 10 A (or any smallest value possible)
5. ...
6. profit.

 

[spdpsba]

. reduce charging current on AC to 10 A (or any smallest value possible)
5. ...
6. profit.

Sorry, can’t get my head around this - so who drops you to pick up the car? And what happens if you have to go to work in the morning etc.,

These arrangement will work if you are close to such a charging place and of course if you are working from home etc., But otherwise sounds bit complicated. Of course if you do not have home charger and no SCs nearby then possibly an option.