Central London EV charging bay rules

Sorry, only of relevance to a few of us, but may useful for searchers.

Almost all of the on-street charging points in London are now under the Source London scheme. This has been funded by the Mayor through Tfl so far, but is out to tender for a new operator from 2014. It will then probably cease to be a notional £10 pa flat fee and become pay-as-you-go.

However, the parking bays in which many of the points are situated are controlled by the individual London boroughs. Parking is free (a great bonus in central London) and the bays are very underused. However, the parking restrictions are set by Traffic Management Orders, and some of the boroughs also publish the guidance they give to their Parking Enforcement Officers (PEOs) on when to issue Penalty Charge Notices (PCNs). Unfortunately these are not standardised across the boroughs, and often the TMOs have not been updated from the time when the boroughs each ran their own individual schemes restricted to their own residents and businesses. So far what I have discovered is this:

Camden: This is what started me off, because I got a PCN while plugged in but with the charge complete. In fact, Camden updated its TMO in 2012 (2012/28), and provided you are plugged in, and inside the time limit (three hours), you are OK. I am still waiting for them to cancel the ticket, and now put a note referring to TMO 2012/28 in my window when parking in Camden (which comes down as far as the top half of Lincoln's Inn Fields). I've not found their guidance to PEOs.

Westminster: Say to their PEOs, and to me when I questioned it, that you are only free to park provided you are actively charging, though signs are ambiguous. Completely refuse to listen to any suggestion that this is hard to meet for plug-in hybrids, and unnecessary when bays are almost always empty. However, the TMO is from 2006 and refers to having a green sticker and using a yellow coiled lead supplied by the scheme. Since that refers to the old Westminster-only scheme, I have said I consider it to be unenforceable, and will appeal if they ticket me. Haven't had to test that yet.

Lambeth: although their TMO is not online I understand they have a similar legal set-up to Westminster - should be actively charging and TMO refers to the coiled lead and Elektromottiv rather than Source London. But a much more practical approach; they have confirmed to me in writing that for the time being, as bays are underused, they will not ticket you while plugged in if within the time limit. Have also said they will update PEOs that the coiled yellow lead is no longer required.

Any more updates, please post...

 

Update - Camden have cancelled my PCN. However, they have cancelled on the grounds that the recharging meter (sic) was faulty, "as it failed to stay green until your three hours maximum stay had expired", They also say the original PCN was for parking in an EV bay without charging. They are therefore wrong on almost every count:

• Their TMO requires me to be connected, not actively charging
• The recharging post does not meter anything other than the electricity provided
• The lights are green when actively charging and turn back to blue when the charge is completed, so the charger was not faulty when they turned blue once the charge had completed.

I can't reply to the email (they even send it from an address called "No reply"!) but I'll write to them separately and update further...

 

Further update:

Camden - a local councillor is taking it up with the appropriate Camden director.

Westminster - they have now replied to the specific issues I have raised. They still say you need to be actively charging. However, they agree their 2006 TMO is out of date and needs to be updated. They say that strictly speaking plug-in hybrids are not allowed to park in the Westminster bays under the 2006 order (!) but they are telling PEOs that they can and will update the TMO.

The implication is that the revised TMO will still say you need to be actively charging. I'm going to write to some councillors when I find out who is on the relevant committee and lobby them to change this, if you do, or might, park in Westminster please do the same.