A hapless driver was hit with a £90 fine for charging his electric motor at his local supermarket - and it was only half-charged.
Max Wilkinson popped to his local branch of Lidl to do his weekly shop and took the opportunity to plug in his newly bought hybrid Mini Countryman.
But he was left regretting the decision when he returned to pick up the four-year-old car to find he had outstayed his welcome - and would need to pay for the privilege.
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Gloucestershire Live reports how Max drove to his local Lidl in Cheltenham to use the facilities as he lives in a street with no EV charger.
Combining a shopping trip with topping up his motor and having bought his groceries, he went home and returned to get the half-charged car after two hours.
It was only a week later when Mr Wilkinson got a letter with a fine of £90 (reduced by half if he paid quickly) that he 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.”
Gloucestershire Live contacted Lidl for comment.
Mark Hawthorne, leader of Gloucestershire County Council, said: “We are excited that we are imminently awarding the contract to provide residents across Gloucestershire with 1,000 EV charging points. These chargers will be sleek, modern, and most importantly they will give residents on-street options to charge their electric and hybrid vehicles with green energy. We expect the first tranche in Cheltenham to be rolled out by the end of summer.
“Of course it would be even better if Max as cabinet member for Climate Emergency at Cheltenham Borough Council followed our lead and invested in EV charging points in all of their off street car parks, as this would make it even easier for residents and visitors to make to change to EV cars- he can even use our contract if they want to speed up the process.”
