A COUPLE were left stunned when they were slapped with a fine for stopping in an EV-only parking space, despite using it to charge their electric car.
Gillian and Trevor Winnett, were handed a £100 penalty notice after filling up their Nissan Leaf.
Gillian Winnett claims that she and her husband Trevor were wrongly fined for charging their EVSupplied
Trevor, who is terminally ill, used their Nissan Leaf as his major means of transportSupplied
Gillian, 71, told The Sun Online that she and Trevor, 87, had previously charged at the same location before their visit on September 26.
Since then, they had begun to use a Motability card as a payment as Trevor’s severe health issues qualified him for the charity’s accessible EV scheme.
Gillian explained: “We tried using the Motability card but that didn’t work.
“The charge kept dropping out so we gave up.
“We used the [charging company’s] app and…it didn’t charge for ten minutes but then charged for an hour.”
She claimed that the evidence provided by Euro Car Parks (ECP) for the penalty only showed the rear of their car.
Given that the charging port is at the front on the Leaf, this meant there was no way to tell whether the car was charging or simply parked there.
But Gillian slammed ECP for the “laughable” fine, saying it had only served to make Trevor, who relies on the car to get around and is receiving palliative care at home, anxious.
She added: “It just plays on your mind, you try to do everything right.
“He’s not going to pay because he hasn’t done anything wrong.
“We’ve seen [non-EV] cars just park there, but we are legitimate customers.
“Now we are worried about going back.”
ECP has been contacted for comment.
The couple were fined £100 for using an EV-only charging baySupplied
However, they say this is an error as the charging port at the front of the car was not visible to the cameras, making it appear as if they had simply parked upSupplied