Picking up passengers in electric car charging marked bay

melliottuk

I was picking up my wife and friend in the town centre, they where waiting at the side of the road for me. I could either block the road or pick up from a marked electric car charge bay, which had dotted white lines in the road and signage. I'm wondering now if I will get a PCN through the post.

I've had a look at the highway code and it suggests that parking is restricted, my understanding is that picking up / letting down passengers may be allowable?

No PCN was applied by a warden, and I'm not sure PCNs can be issued by CCTV evidence as this was not on a clearway. Can anyone advise for future reference?

For info the car is a diesel, I was not blocking any access to chargers (none in use).

Thanks.

MattMattMattUK

melliottuk said:

I was picking up my wife and friend in the town centre, they where waiting at the side of the road for me. I could either block the road or pick up from a marked electric car charge bay, which had dotted white lines in the road and signage. I'm wondering now if I will get a PCN through the post.

Or you could arrange to pick them up from a suitable location, where stopping is allowed.

melliottuk said:

I've had a look at the highway code and it suggests that parking is restricted, my understanding is that picking up / letting down passengers may be allowable?

No PCN was applied by a warden, and I'm not sure PCNs can be issued by CCTV evidence as this was not on a clearway. Can anyone advise for future reference?

For info the car is a diesel, I was not blocking any access to chargers (none in use).

Thanks.

It could be enforced by the council similar to how bus lanes are enforced, it firstly depends if there were cameras covering the EV bays or not, secondly if you were there long enough to get caught and thirdly do the council even enforce the rules.

Fruitcake

Councils and local authorities are prohibited from using cameras to issue parking penalties except in certain very specific situations. Yours is not one of those situations. However, I echo the above comment. Picking up/dropping off loading/unloading is permitted on yellow lines as long as there are no restrictions to the contrary (kerb blips and/or signs), so it would be better to do that, especially as amendments may one day be made to include electric parking bays in the current legislation.
Never, ever use private land to pick up/drop off.


Prohibition of ANPR use by councils

Part 6 of the Traffic Management Act 2004 para 87 as amended by the Deregulation Act 2015 section 53 (*addition of para 87a *) allows for certain types of equipment to be prohibited.

* (1)The Secretary of State may by regulations make provision to prohibit the use by civil enforcement officers of a device of a description specified in the regulations, or of records produced by such a device, in connection with the enforcement of parking contraventions on a road in a civil enforcement area in England.*

According to,

The Secretary of State's Statutory Guidance to Local Authorities on the Civil Enforcement of Parking Contraventions, published in 2006

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/873752/statutory-guidance-local-authorities-enforcement-parking-contraventions-document.pdf

1.1 This Statutory Guidance is published by the Secretary of State for Transport under section 87 of the Transport Management Act 2004.

...

Enforcement using Approved Devices 
8.9

"Penalty charge notices must not be served by post on the basis of evidence from an approved device other than when vehicles are parked on:

a bus lane;
a bus stop clearway or bus stand clearway;
a Keep Clear zig-zag area outside a school; or
a red route."


In other words, a device has to be approved by the Secretary of State. Even if  ANPR/cameras are approved devices, they can only be used in the circumstances given above. Conversely, they cannot therefore be used anywhere else for any other reason, including on street and off street parking.

melliottuk

Thank you both for your advice, I'm hindsight I should have called them and told them to move further up the road. Thanks for the clarification.

Coupon-mad

melliottuk said:

Thank you both for your advice, I'm hindsight I should have called them and told them to move further up the road. Thanks for the clarification.

You can pick up or set down passengers on double or single yellow lines.  I always look for them in between bays, when picking up a passenger or dropping someone off.

It's allowed (exempt activity) on all yellow lines as long as you don't park on a junction corner or block a dropped kerb.