Parking Charges whilst Charging

Before you do anything.

There are some legally competent types at Free Traffic Legal Advice - Free Traffic Legal Advice - Index (which has replaced pepipoo.com since that site was essentially abandoned by the folk who originally set it up). - A lot of folk have already been helped there to successfully fight private parking tickets.

There's been some discussion on there already of charging vs. parking.

For private parking charges (they're NOT "fines" not "penalties") it often helps a lot if the identity of The Driver is not revealed. No "I did this", "I thought that" "the wife parked". Always just "The Driver". Any letters will be addressed to The Keeper (a separate legal entity).
 
So I started this thread and I agree that if you are charging (especially on a slower charger) you should not be charged parking fees, someone out there may be able to find a legal term of what parking means to see if charging is parking/charging or just charging. The government could easily clarify this, but alas that as usual is not forthcoming :mad:
 
I personally think the other way around. You should be able to fast charge (stay a limited time and go) without a parking charge. But if I arrive at a destination, plug into a slow charger and leave it there most of the day until we go home again, then paying a parking fee is fair enough - you'd have to pay the fee if you weren't using the charger.
 
Richard Bankart said:
I would like to know more of the "Parking" charges. You might be interested in the following: -

Parking Meaning in Law - To leave a vehicle in a carpark or other reserved space” and “To leave in a suitable place until required.” The concept of parking, as opposed to stopping, is that of leaving a car for some duration of time beyond that needed for getting in or out of it, loading or unloading it, and perhaps coping with some vicissitude.

My read of this is that you stop at at charging bay you do not park. Afterall you wouldn't expect to drive onto a petrol station and face a parking charge when filling up. This likewise is not parking but stopping. As you are stopping and not parking, what reason do you have for looking at parking notices when they are not relevant. What is also rather gaulling is that in this instance the land owner, for some consideration, transferred these parking bays to Tesla to become charging bays. Having sold them they are still trying to charge for them as if they still owned them and as if they were parking bays. Clearly they are not and under English law I believe it is illegal to park in a charging bay you need to use the bay to charge. Once it is a charging bay it cannot be a parking bay. So long as you are charging I cannot see how you can be alleged to be parking. Additionally under the law, the land owner has to be give people entering the space, time to consider any regulations. In this instance not only does there not appear to be any signs relating to stopping their parking terms kick in after 0 hours and 0 minutes. I believe the parking signs refer to Holiday Inn parking. If you are in a Tesla bay are you not on their property, would you think you were on someone else's property? Surely any conditions as regards the Tesla charging bay need to be set out by Tesla according to the normal regulations including clearly stating a quantifiable penalty. If it is Tesla's intent that customers should be fined for using their charging bays then clearly they should say. If not then I think it beholden on Tesla to ensure that their customers are not screwed over by the land owner they contracted with to create the charging station. Tesla seem to dismiss matters saying this is a private land issue. This is not strictly accurate this is an issue about their charging bays which they have acquired by some contract. The site comprises land either owned or subject to conditions Tesla has agreed and separately the Holiday Inn car park and hotel. Do you know from any signage who's site you are on? As regards any need for registering registration details at the site are these not provided the moment you connect your car to the super charger. It amazes me that if the intent was never to charge charger users that Tesla allows their customers to be fined for using THEIR site.
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You raise some interesting points to which I have no real answers.
I’ll make the following points though:
I didn’t see any signs nor did I look for them, so I can’t comment on what advice they offer which needs to be heeded or how clearly they are expressed.
Secondly, if you register your car in the hotel there is no parking fee to pay. Problem solved. Unfortunately I was unaware of this nuance.
I do agree, though, these are not true parking spaces, whatever the legal definition. It seems harsh, even in public parking spaces to charge for them therefore, though I guess in the latter instance there is some reduction in revenue for the convenience of the EV owner. Maybe in the latter case there is more fairness.
 
mg4mc said:
I personally think the other way around. You should be able to fast charge (stay a limited time and go) without a parking charge. But if I arrive at a destination, plug into a slow charger and leave it there most of the day until we go home again, then paying a parking fee is fair enough - you'd have to pay the fee if you weren't using the charger.
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I go back to my original post where the only places to charge are the slow chargers, so there is no alternative. This is the case in deepest darkest Norfolk.
 
Fluffykins said:
There's a live case going on at the moment on FTLA.UK

PCN issued for my EV while we were parked in an EV charging bay....

PCN issued for my EV while we were parked in an EV charging bay....
www.ftla.uk www.ftla.uk


ZapMap does throw up a few high power chargers in Norfolk
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You're correct, the place I visit regularly is North Walsham, and there is one 50kW charger. This didn't work for while but does now, waiting in an industrial estate that is on the edge of town does not float my boat. The next ones are in Bank Loke Car park, you can charge there but they incur parking charges and at 7kW that is an expensive prospect unless you go later in the evening and a 7kW charger at 79p is a joke, not always the best. The Beechwood Hotel chargers are not working and hard to find, plus 79p for a slow charger is expensive. Now there is a cheaper alternative that has just been installed and that's finally at a reasonable rate and no parking charges. This is one of the issues with the adoption of EVs because how can this level of charger support be sustainable for the future. The nearest rapid charger (> 100kW) that is working is Norwich, some 30 minutes away. Don't tell me that is ok.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
True, 50kW seems to be the limit locally. Dependent on which route you use to approach North Walsham, ZapMap suggests:
Roy's of Wrexham (50kW, £0.62)
Old Rectory Hotel Crostwick (50kW, £0.79 - but it's BPPulse, so not preferred)
Stumpy's Way Aylsham (50kW, £0.44 [I think. E&OE])
Tescos Aylsham (50kW, £0.62)
There's also the Gridserve leccy forecourt Norwich.
From where are you coming?
 
I come from the south so I use the Gridserve Hub at Norwich (79p kW/h), but this make the journey expensive, I will now be using the cheaper alternative at North Walsham, and my point is why, on long runs am I being penalised with expensive electric, or cheaper electric and carpark charges, the combined rates make driving a BEV more expensive than the polluting ICE vehicles (the fuel is taxed to the hilt, bad for the environment, etc), how is this not excessive profiting from greedy companies (net price of average is around £60-120/MWh, taking £120 that equates to 12p/kWh, with 20% VAT and 100% profit plus 10p for the infrastructure it should be around 39p for a slow charger perhaps a bit more for a fast or DC charger). My hope is competition will offer more choice and hence bring the prices down and the new installation get installed in places where carpark charging is a thing of the past.

Oh and 50kW will take in excess of an hour to charge when I have just done one recharge at Rugby and the whole journey is 5 Hrs so charging at my destination would be desirable as another charge at 50kW is unacceptable, and why should I have to travel another 20 - 30 minutes drive just to charge at an inflated price as there is a cost to get there as well. None of this will put me off as all EV drivers are putting up with this, hoping it will improve.
 
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@DelBoy

Are you able to use the Tesla Open Network. If so, according to the Tesla app, there is one at the Norwich Service Centre, 79 Mile Cross Lane, NR6 6TX.

I've never tried it but may have opportunity to do so later this year.
 
In my mind you stop at rapid chargers to charge much like you stop at the petrol station to fill up, however you park at a destination charger (7/11/22kW) while you are doing something else same as any other parking. Therefore to me although not welcome I see the reasoning for parking charges at a destination charger but not at a rapid.
Just my simple mind's thought.
 
As per @emmrecs

You cannot beat the Tesla Supercharger prices especially with the £8,99 per month membership.

Screenshot_20250125_093843_Tesla.jpg


Screenshot_20250125_093811_Tesla.jpg
 
I just came back from Madeira and had an electric Bolt while I was there. The driver said it’s about 0.25 Euro per KWh for public chargers. So much cheaper than we get!
 
lordsofthewaun said:
I just came back from Madeira and had an electric Bolt while I was there. The driver said it’s about 0.25 Euro per KWh for public chargers. So much cheaper than we get!
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And I bet you didn't have to pay parking charges to boot
 
Sandypuke said:
Recently had the opportunity to use the Tesla network. I was very impressed at ease of use availability of stations and cost. However, and this may not be a Tesla specific issue, we got stung at Preston South with a parking charge. The chargers are in a Holiday Inn car park and although we didn’t spot this, you are supposed to register your vehicle at the hotel to avoid charges imposed by Parkingeye. We didn’t see notices advising of this but I don’t doubt they exist. It does seem counterintuitive given that we were not Holiday Inn customers.
Whatever, I have sent messages to both ZapMap (where we found the chargers) and Tesla suggesting that they might flag these charges up more obviously in their Apps. Still to hear back but please be warned of this potential issue if you are not already aware. It seems from other complaints seen that we are not the first to be complaining about this.
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Same happens to me twice on the the way from London to Glasgow n back! Caught twice at same place, Preston Holiday in! I cld not spot the the signage as it was raining heavy but I had been chatting to staff member for a while and they even did not bother to give me a hint of this! Neither any message to display at reception! Pretty awkward way to do business like that! Shame for Holiday Inn
 
DelBoy said:
I am not sure if this has already been posted but it does get my goat when I want to charge my car and have to pay parking fees because the stupid charger is in a car park. If an ICE car had to pay to refuel there would be up-roar so why are we having to put up with this. To that end should the Zap map have a code that lets you know there is car parking charges involved on the map rather than having to squirrel into the chat.
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siteguru said:
Court claims are quite numerous actually, but only a very small percentage of unpaid PCNs proceed to a court claim ... this just shows how many PCNs are issued every year - millions.

Robustly-defended claims mostly end in the Claimant discontinuing ... it's a numbers game to them.
Click to expand...
 
I had a recent parking/ charging experience
I pulled into a McDonalds to charge and there was an engineer repairing the two chargers.He told me he would be 45 minutes. Once he had repaired the devices I charged my car
I then got a parking g ticket in the post stating that I had taken more than 90 mins so got a £50 parking ticket

I got a letter from the charging vendor stating that the charger was under repair and verifying that I had charged as soon as they had finished the repair. This was not accepted as mitigating circumstances and the fine stuck.

I asked the charging vendor to escalate to PCN but they came back and said just pay it and we will reimburse you

So ended up not out of pocket but a lot of ball ache and stress
 
In all honesty that was on you, it was your choice to wait in the car park, you didn't have to. Kudos to the vendor for reimbursing you though.
 
bigal said:
I had a recent parking/ charging experience
I pulled into a McDonalds to charge and there was an engineer repairing the two chargers.He told me he would be 45 minutes. Once he had repaired the devices I charged my car
I then got a parking g ticket in the post stating that I had taken more than 90 mins so got a £50 parking ticket

I got a letter from the charging vendor stating that the charger was under repair and verifying that I had charged as soon as they had finished the repair. This was not accepted as mitigating circumstances and the fine stuck.

I asked the charging vendor to escalate to PCN but they came back and said just pay it and we will reimburse you

So ended up not out of pocket but a lot of ball ache and stress
Click to expand...
Please remember this is not a fine, it is an invoice for parking (breach of parking contract). Of course the people sending the invoice would not accept your reason (or any reason) for overstaying, why would they?
PCN - Penalty Charge Notice issued by the local council.
PCN - Parking Charge Notice issued by private companies.
 

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