A shopper has been fined after charging his electric car in a Lidl car park. Max Wilkinson has put Mini Countryman on charge while shopping in the supermarket and then went home, returning to get his car two hours later.
A week later, Mr Wilkinson got a letter saying he had been issued a fine of £90 (which will be reduced by half if paid quickly). Signs in the car park in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, say customers can only park for 90 minutes, including at the EV charging points, and Mr Wilkinson hadn't realised.
Gloucestershire Live reports that Mr Wilkinson, who is a local politician, wants others to be aware of the risk of being fined. He has has paid the fine and doesn’t dispute it, but thinks it doesn’t quite make sense to restrict car charging to 90 minutes as well.
He has recently bought a four-year oil hybrid Mini Countryman, and as he lives in a street with no EV charging facilities, he took it to the Lidl in the town's Swindon Road - combining a shopping trip with giving the car a charge. After shopping, he went home and returned to get the car after two hours, by which time the hybrid Mini was about half-charged.
He said: “I’ve paid the fine and it’s a fair cop. However, it seems illogical that quite a lot of EV and hybrid owners won’t be allowed to spend enough time in the car park to get a full charge.
“The company probably should make that clear on the app or the charger itself. People want to do their bit by switching away from dirty petrol and diesel vehicles. At the moment that change isn’t being made easy enough.”
He has also called on the county council to do more about the on-street electric vehicle charging infrastructure. Lidl and Gloucestershire County Council for comment.
