The Association of Fleet Professionals (AFP) warns that fleet drivers are inadvertently being handed a penalty charge notice while waiting for an electric vehicle (EV) charger to become available.

The AFP says most cases relate to instances where automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) technology has been in use in a car park, automatically issuing fines if drivers overstay the permitted free time.

The AFP said it was easy for company car and van drivers to miss the signs of a maximum waiting time while waiting to charge up their vehicle.

Paul Hollick, chair of the AFP, commented, “If there’s a one-hour-free limit in an ANPR car park and a driver has to queue for 30 minutes and then connect to the charger for 40 minutes – which is by no means an unusual situation – they’re getting a fine.

“It seems that because they are queueing and not in a parking bay, drivers are forgetting that they are still liable for car park charges. It is something that is being flagged up by a number of our members as an issue and dealing with fines such as this is always a time consuming and surprisingly expensive administrative process.”

Hollick added the association considered it a sufficiently growing problem that fleet managers should make drivers aware of time-limited car parking where EV charging is available.

Hollick said that fleet EV adoption was highlighting a number of similar issues that fleet operators were working through.

“It seems almost every week brings something new such as this, which requires an adjustment by fleet managers and drivers, some small and some larger. They’re all part of the learning process of electrification, and the AFP is performing an important service for its members by sharing best practice solutions.”