I was fined £90 for charging my electric car in an empty supermarket car park – it’s a disgrace
AN OUTRAGED driver was slapped with a £90 fine for charging his electric car in an empty supermarket car park.
The “unfair” charge sparked outcry from James Piddock who attacked the confusing parking rules and called the fine a “disgrace”.
In March, he charged his Renault Zöe at the closed Lidl in Ditton while he ate a Sunday dinner at his girlfriend’s.
The little car was parked for less than two hours so James was fuming to discover he’d landed a £90 just fine days later.
He had overstayed the car park’s hour and a half time limit by 23 minutes.
The pest controller was shocked - he had no idea about a time restriction on parking there.
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He had plugged his car into the Pod Point charger at the supermarket and paid the £9.50 fee to charge assuming he’d done everything right.
The brand of pay-per-use charger connects to an app on your phone and James had used similar ones several times before.
But Lidl’s own parking rules caught him out.
The supermarket's car parks are for customers only and are free for up to 90 minutes.
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He told : “I think this is a disgrace and I want other people to know about it so they don't get stitched up.
"It doesn’t say on the machine that you can only park there for 90 minutes.
"There are notices in the car park but they are 6-8ft up in the air and not with the biggest of writing.”
James added that the time restriction was too short anyway.
He said: "Most cars take longer than an hour and a half to charge up; certainly my Renault Zöe did.
"Even when I got back it still wasn’t fully charged. When I left, it was on around 30% and when I got back it had 98%.
"The same company own the machines at my local Tesco and that has got a big sticker on it saying a max stay is three hours.”
He added: "The Tesco one is actually free, so when I’ve paid market rate for this charge and then I get a fine on top of that it just seems unfair to me.
"You’d think either the charger is free and there is a limited amount of time - so you’re not hogging it - or you pay for using it."
'I'VE KISSED GOODBYE TO THE MONEY'
James desperately appealed to Lidl and Pod Point who installed the pay-per-use charger but it was useless.
"With Pod Point I felt like I was just shouting into the wind as the company was speaking through an automated system and you just don’t get through to anybody."
Eventually, he paid the fine which was reduced to £45 because he paid it early.
He said: "I’ve kissed goodbye to the money but I just thought other people need to know about this, otherwise they will be coining out of this and I think it is just unfair.”
In a statement, Pod Point said: "Lidl’s charge points are operated by Pod Point and are part of our public charging network.
"However the terms and conditions of the car park are set and enforced by the charge point host and owner of the asset.
"We do advise drivers to observe the terms and conditions of the car park and to check the physical car park signage and / or Pod Point app for parking restrictions and operating hour policies.
"The Pod Point app prompts users to check the conditions of the car park and our in-app messaging has recently been updated to make things clearer for electric vehicle drivers using the Lidl charge points.
"We would also kindly advise Mr Piddock to consider the possible needs of other EV drivers to avoid inadvertently preventing others from charging when they need to."
Lidl provided the comment: “The vast majority of carparks across our stores offer free parking for up to 90 minutes and the majority of our EVC charging points feature rapid chargers which can offer up to 80% charge in just 45 minutes.
"As is normal practice across the industry, carpark usage is subject to terms and conditions for all those using the carpark.
"We have very clear signage displayed prominently across our car parks, and an additional prompt is given within the Pod Point app.
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“At Lidl GB we are proud to have invested over £25m in the rollout of electric vehicle charging points since 2017 and have committed to having rapid charging points in place at 300 stores by the end of 2022.
"We are also proud to offer our customers the best value pay-as-you go rapid charging of any supermarket currently at just 26p p/kWh.”
