Car owner’s fury at neighbour using EV charging bay as a ‘personal parking space’ – EQ Mag Pro
A LONDON man has spoken of his anger at a neighbour using an EV charging spot as a permanent parking area.
Billy Gater of Croydon took to a local facebook page to complain about the actions of the resident, who permanently leaves a silver Kia Optima in the electric vehicle (EV) charging port bay. According to Mr Gater it means nobody with an EV can charge their cars up.
The row shines a light on the infrastructure issues that exist around the UK as the Government urges a switch to EVs from petrol and diesel cars.
Mr Gater said: “This car persists In staying on this charging point in St Luke’s Close Addiscombe for four or five days at a time.
“It’s being treated as his own personal parking space.”
And other locals weighed in, with one writing: “Looks like we need some sort of time limit on street charging spots.”
A second added: “It should be a time-restricted bay.”
Another Facebook user agreed, saying: “Totally selfish to do that.”
One resident pointed out that the owner of the vehicle is “well within their right” to park there if the car is correctly taxed and insured.
To which another replied: “Legally, you’re right. Utterly selfish to prevent others from charging their vehicles, though.”
Others suggested he should “cut the cable” or “report him to the council”.
Charging spots are becoming increasingly sought after as EV sales rose 75 percent in the UK in the past year.
However, just 21 of the 400 councils in the UK offer free charging bays according to research by British Gas.
Lucy Simpson, the head of EV enablement, said: “The latest figures released today demonstrate the need for all UK councils to play their part in supporting the transition to electric vehicles.
“Currently, we have 21 progressive councils that have decided to support local EV adoption, so we would expect a greater uptake of EVs to come through in these areas than in councils where it is expensive to charge.”
The research also revealed that half of drivers would consider purchasing an electric vehicle as their next car.
However, almost one in three (29 percent) named expensive public charging costs as one of the biggest barriers to switching to an EV, alongside the outlay for the car and the fact that government incentives do not cover enough of the costs.
More than two in five (42 percent) drivers are put off switching as they are concerned about the time it takes to charge.
The survey also showed that drivers in the South are being charged over a quarter more than those in the North to top-up their electric cars using the cheapest council owned chargers.
Source: express
