A driver has warned others who own electric cars to be wary of charging their vehicles after being hit with a fine.
Max Wilkinson, a Cheltenham councillor, recently bought a a four-year oil hybrid Mini Countryman.
He drove the car to a Lidl on Swindon Road to charge it while he picked up some shopping, as there are no EV charging facilities on his street, Gloucestershire Live reports.
After buying his groceries, he headed home before returning to collect the car two hours later, at which point the hybrid Mini was roughly half-charged.
However, just a week later Mr Wilkinson received a fine £90 - reduced to £45 if paid within a certain time - and quickly realised his mistake.
Signs around the car park say customers can only park for 90 minutes, including at the EV charging points.
Mr Wilkinson has paid the fine and doesn’t dispute it. But he does think it doesn’t quite make sense to restrict car charging to 90 minutes as well.
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. For me, this further highlights the need for Gloucestershire County Council to finally deliver its on-street electric vehicle charging infrastructure.
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.”
Both Lidl and Gloucestershire County Council have been contacted for comment.
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