Holidaymaker shocked by £70 Telford Tesco car park fine for using electric vehicle charger
A holidaymaker is angry after he was fined £70 for spending an hour charging his electric car on a Telford supermarket car park - because the free-parking time limit is cut from three hours to 15 minutes when the store is shut.
Martin Toms, 62 from Kettering, Northamptonshire, was travelling home from a family holiday in Barmouth on Sunday, May 14, this year with his wife, daughter and her partner.
He said the 163-mile distance from Barmouth to Kettering was at the limit of the family's Renault Zoe's range, so they planned to stop half way.
He said the 'PodPoint' car chargers at Tesco Extra at the Wrekin Retail Park were advertised on numerous EV charging websites and were around half way home for the Toms family.
"This stop was all planned. We had stopped there on the way to Barmouth and had breakfast so hadn't thought there would be be any problem on the way back," he said.
After stopping at the Tesco Extra at 6.48pm and charging up for an hour, Mr Toms took his family home, unaware that because the store shuts at 4pm on a Sunday the 15-minute limits had kicked in.
So he was shocked to discover a £70 fine from Horizon Parking landing on his doormat a few weeks later.
The firm looks after the Tesco car park and had fined Mr Toms for overstaying the time allowable on the car park after his Renault Zoe was picked up on number plate recognition cameras.
He said: "I am very unhappy because I assume Tesco make money from the charge point and have effectively set a honey trap inside their car park to fine you £70.
"The only reason we stopped there was to use the charging facility and I feel that we have been pulled into using the facility so that they can fine us. The facility was advertised in lots of places."
Mr Toms said he appealed to the parking Ombudsman but had his appeal turned down.
"I am sure there is a sign there warning motorists about the time limit but it was not something I looked for. We had stopped on the way and were only there an hour," added Mr Toms.
"The chargers were advertised so I think Tesco have a responsibility that the people who enforce their car parks are doing it fairly. This wasn't fair."
A spokesperson for Tesco said that the car park at the store has a three-hour maximum stay during store opening hours but "a 15-minute maximum stay outside store opening hours".
She added: "This is clearly marked on signage in the car park. The car park at our Telford Extra store is managed by Horizon on our behalf and they use ANPR and wardens to ensure the car park is used correctly. Wardens carry out patrols of the car parks to ensure that disabled, parent-child and electric vehicle bays are being used appropriately."
Comment Guidelines
Iconic Media encourages reader discussion on our stories. User feedback, insights and back-and-forth exchanges add a rich layer of context to reporting. Please review our Community Guidelines before commenting.