Parking fine while charging not parking

Surferdude25

Hi everyone. First of all I wish I had found this group some weeks ago. I did not realise there were groups dedicated to fighting this. 

So I took my Mum to Scarborough after we lost my Dad very suddenly and unexpectedly. I charged my car in Pavilion Square at the clearly marked Instavolt charger. The bay itself had Instavolt EV charger written in large letters on the floor. The car was charging for 28 minutes at an rate of 87pp kwh which was bad enough when it costs me 7p at home but I digress. I then received a PCN from Initial Parking which said I should have paid for parking (which would apparently have been 80p) They send a photo of several signs but none of them relate to having to pay for parking while charging or refueling and this is not something I have come across before as I usually charge at a Tesla supercharger but there were none nearby. They sent a photo of a sign in between the chargers which said parking charges apply but the photo was from February 2023 and the photograph I have definitely does not have that sign. Also all the other signs make no reference to ev's and charging tariffs. I appealed to the company which rejected my appeal, then I appealed to POPLA which must have been reading something completely different because with the evidence I presented there is no way they could reject my appeal but they did. 

I would rather give the money away. It's the principle that makes my blood boil. The signs are clearly marking parking tariffs and I wasn't parked! I never left the car. I refueled and left. Of course I would have paid the 80p rather the £100 they now want me to pay! The signage does not mention ev charging at all. 

 I don't know how they get away with it. Has anyone got any advice please? 

Half_way

do not name or attempt to guess as to who could have been driving.
next where does it say fine?

born_again

Something to watch for in the future.
Many EV charging sites require either payment for parking, or you to register the car when in hotel or pub car parks.

James_Poisson

You definitely was parked while charging, and sitting in the car makes no difference, you need to read the landowner rules you can't make up your own.

The InstaVolt says:

InstaVolt operates on land operated by third parties, and as such drivers using the InstaVolt charging stations are required to adhere to existing on-site parking enforcement which can be found on signage at the location.

https://instavolt.co.uk/faqs/

You are now in ignore mode to see if a claim is made where a judge will assess more impartially but you will need to use a different defence signage contracts etc is your starting point.

Half_way

ev charging bays are  a mess 
are these bays separately leased by the charging company, if so the car was not in the car park but had left to enter a separate bit of if land.

Was the car parked, or was it being refueled?
if loading isn't parking, then what about loading it with fuel, be that liquid as in petrol  gas as in propane or hydrogen or electric as in electrons flowing to the battery?

Exodi

Half_way said:

ev charging bays are  a mess 
are these bays separately leased by the charging company, if so the car was not in the car park but had left to enter a separate bit of if land.

Was the car parked, or was it being refueled?
if loading isn't parking, then what about loading it with fuel, be that liquid as in petrol  gas as in propane or hydrogen or electric as in electrons flowing to the battery?

I think it depends how pedantic you want to be.

Following this logic, could I place my car in a chargeable parking spot without a ticket, and set up a portable charger to fill my car - arguing that technically my car was being loaded and not parked? Does it matter whether I'm present? If it worked like that, putting a solar panel on a car would qualify it for free parking for life. I think a lot of people might suggest that is nonsense. I think EV charging bars are only a mess to people that want them to be. I'm very clear that the parking rules apply to the EV bays wherever I've gone and they're typically (though maybe not in the OP's case) plastered in parking signs.

Coupon-mad

Surferdude25 said:

Hi everyone. First of all I wish I had found this group some weeks ago. I did not realise there were groups dedicated to fighting this. 

So I took my Mum to Scarborough after we lost my Dad very suddenly and unexpectedly. I charged my car in Pavilion Square at the clearly marked Instavolt charger. The bay itself had Instavolt EV charger written in large letters on the floor. The car was charging for 28 minutes at an rate of 87pp kwh which was bad enough when it costs me 7p at home but I digress.

 I then received a PCN from Initial Parking which said I should have paid for parking (which would apparently have been 80p) They send a photo of several signs but none of them relate to having to pay for parking while charging or refuelling and this is not something I have come across before as I usually charge at a Tesla supercharger but there were none nearby.

They sent a photo of a sign in between the chargers which said parking charges apply but the photo was from February 2023 and the photograph I have definitely does not have that sign.

Also all the other signs make no reference to ev's and charging tariffs. I appealed to the company which rejected my appeal,

 then I appealed to POPLA which must have been reading something completely different because with the evidence I presented there is no way they could reject my appeal but they did. 

I would rather give the money away. It's the principle that makes my blood boil. The signs are clearly marking parking tariffs and I wasn't parked! I never left the car. I refueled and left. Of course I would have paid the 80p rather the £100 they now want me to pay! The signage does not mention ev charging at all. 

 I don't know how they get away with it. Has anyone got any advice please? 

Yes. 

Ignore the £170 threatograms which always follow a useless POPLA decision that went against you. See post 4 of the NEWBIES thread for pictures of those daft letters.

There is no point engaging. It is futile. Tell them if you move house, as is explained in the new MSE Guide linked at the top of the page.

Come back if you get a Claim Form (Initial are not known for it but your images of the actual signs are great evidence, so keep them safe) and in the meantime...

...This month, we need you:

PLEASE bookmark this thread below and do the government's Public Consultation if you haven't done it yet. Their proposals are wrong. We must stop them.

See this thread: -

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6617396/parking-code-of-practice-consultation-8-weeks-from-11th-july-2025/p1

We need every poster to come back & complete this vital Consultation before the deadline! Just 2 weeks left but please don't rush it. You can do some then save it and come back to it as you have time.

We understand that you may need some pointers. It looks laborious, we get that.

So to try to help, I've written some guidance on that thread.

Any questions on the Consultation please ask - on the dedicated thread - but I've covered up to question 20 already in that first post, openly telling everyone what I'm going to put and/or what sort of evidence you might wish to use for your response, if you agree with what we'll be saying from our experience.

Whilst your answers must of course be your own, there are vital points to safeguard motorists interests to make, that many people may not think of without our guidance because we see cases every day and we know the legal background. 

However, people like you have lived & breathed the intimidation, greed and unfairness first hand so your voice is needed. You have also had an unfair POPLA Decision and the government especially want to hear about what is wrong with the existing joke 'appeals services'.

We MUST have a single appeals service.

Please respond to the survey.