Drivers waiting to charge their electric vehicle (EV) in car parks risk being inadvertently fined, according to the Association of Fleet Professionals (AFP).
The fleet trade and training body says that incidents of drivers receiving a penalty charge notice (PCN) were mainly occurring where automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) technology was in use, and it was easy for company car and van drivers to miss signs warning of the maximum free time.
AFP chair, Paul Hollick, said: “If there’s a one-hour free limit in an ANPR car park and a driver has to queue for 30 minutes and then connect to the charger for 40 minutes – which is by no means an unusual situation - they’re getting a fine.
“It seems that because they are queueing and not in a parking bay, drivers are forgetting that they are still liable for car park charges.
“It is something that is being flagged up by a quite a number of our members as an issue and dealing with fines such as this is always a time consuming and surprisingly expensive administrative process.”
Hollick told Fleet News that it seems to be sufficiently widespread that the AFP thinks it is worth fleet managers communicating to drivers that they should bear in mind the maximum free time in a car park when they are charging.
He concluded: “It seems almost every week brings something new such as this which requires an adjustment by fleet managers and drivers, some small and some larger.
“They’re all part of the learning process of electrification and the AFP is performing an important service for its members by sharing best practice solutions.”
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Gareth has more than 20 years’ experience as a journalist having started his career in local newspapers in the 1990s. Prior to joining Fleet News in 2008, he worked in the public sector as a media advisor and is currently news editor at Fleet News.
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