Fined £90 for Charging After Hours: The Lidl EV Case That Shows How Easily Drivers Can Get Caught Out

Picture this: you pull into a supermarket car park, plug in your electric car, pop in for a few minutes, and head home. Sixteen minutes later, you're on your way. It sounds entirely unremarkable. Yet for one driver in Barton-upon-Humber, that short stop ended with a £90 penalty simply because the Lidl store behind the charging point had already shut its doors for the night.

It's a story that, on the surface, looks trivial. But it exposes a genuinely tricky corner of UK parking law that catches out more drivers than you might think, especially as retail car parks become increasingly dotted with EV chargers.

What Happened

According to BBC News, the driver used an electric vehicle charger in the car park of a Lidl store in Barton-upon-Humber, North Lincolnshire, after the supermarket had closed for the day. The charging session lasted just 16 minutes. Despite this, the driver was later issued with a parking charge notice worth £90, on the basis that using the car park, and specifically the charger, outside the store's opening hours breached the terms under which the space could be used.

The case has drawn attention because it highlights something many drivers simply don't think about: EV chargers installed in supermarket car parks are not necessarily available around the clock, and using one outside permitted hours can trigger a penalty even if you're only there for a matter of minutes and even if you're doing exactly what the charger appears to invite you to do, namely charge your car.

Why It Matters

Supermarket car parks have become one of the most common places for UK drivers to top up their electric vehicles. Chains such as Tesco, Aldi, and Lidl have rolled out charging points as part of wider efforts to support EV adoption, often in partnership with third-party charging network operators. For many drivers without a driveway or home charger, these bays are a genuine lifeline.

The problem is that these car parks are, legally speaking, private land. They are not covered by the same council-run rules that apply to on-street parking, and the terms of use are set by the landowner (the supermarket) or whichever private parking company manages enforcement on their behalf. Those terms can, and often do, include restrictions tied to store opening hours, even where the charging infrastructure itself might technically remain live and usable.

This creates an obvious tension. From a driver's point of view, a working charger with power flowing through it doesn't look "closed". There's rarely an obvious barrier, alarm, or visible cue to say the car park is now off-limits. Yet the contractual position, backed by signage that many drivers never read closely, can be entirely different. This is a recurring theme in disputes over enforcement, where the gap between what a driver reasonably assumes and what small-print signage actually says becomes the crux of the argument, something explored in more detail in our guide to how unclear parking signs can be used as a defence.

It also matters because it's a preview of a wider issue. As more retailers and charging networks install EV points in car parks primarily designed for shopping customers, the rules governing "who can park, when, and for what purpose" are going to matter more, not less. A charger that looks like a public amenity might legally be reserved for customers during trading hours only, and enforcement is increasingly automated through ANPR (Automatic Number Plate Recognition) cameras that don't care whether you nipped in for milk or just wanted a quick top-up after the shop had shut.

The Legal Angle

It's worth being clear about what kind of "fine" this actually is. A penalty issued in a private car park, such as a supermarket's, is not a Penalty Charge Notice (PCN) issued under statutory powers by a local authority. It is a Parking Charge Notice, and crucially it is enforced through contract law rather than criminal or administrative law.

In practice, this means the parking operator has to demonstrate that clear terms were displayed (typically via signage at the entrance and around the car park) and that the driver, by parking there, entered into a contract to abide by those terms. If the signage says charging or parking is only permitted during store opening hours, and a driver uses the space after that, the operator can argue a breach of contract has occurred, regardless of how short the stay was.

This is where the Barton-upon-Humber case becomes instructive. Sixteen minutes is a remarkably short window, and the instinctive reaction for most people is that this feels disproportionate. But private parking charges are not calculated on a sliding scale according to how long you overstayed or breached the rules; a single minute past the permitted use is often treated the same as an hour in the eyes of the operator, unless a grace period applies.

That said, the rules governing private parking are shifting. Reforms have been floated for some time to introduce standardised caps on charges and mandatory grace periods across the private parking industry, following long-running criticism of inconsistent practices between operators. Drivers should also be aware that most reputable private parking firms are members of either the British Parking Association (BPA) or the International Parking Community (IPC), both of which operate codes of practice and independent appeals services, POPLA and IAS respectively. Understanding which trade body a car park operator belongs to can materially affect how an appeal should be approached, something we've broken down in our guide comparing BPA and IPC membership.

Signage clarity is often the single biggest factor in whether a private parking charge stands up to scrutiny. If the terms restricting use of an EV charger to store opening hours were not prominently and unambiguously displayed at the point of parking, that can form the basis of a legitimate challenge. This is a similar principle to the one seen in disputes over EV bay penalties more broadly, where drivers are increasingly caught out by rules that are technically displayed but practically easy to miss.

What Drivers Should Know

If you regularly charge an EV at a supermarket, retail park, or similar private car park, there are a few practical habits worth adopting:

• Read the signage properly before you plug in. Look specifically for any wording about opening hours, permitted use times, or whether the charger is reserved for customers only during trading hours.
• Check the charging network's app or terminal for restrictions. Many chargers are operated by third parties such as Pod Point, InstaVolt, or GRIDSERVE under licence from the retailer, and their apps sometimes state usage windows that aren't obvious from the car park itself.
• Don't assume a live charger means legitimate access. As this case shows, a charger can still be drawing power and accepting payment after the site is technically "closed" for parking purposes, and that distinction matters legally even if it seems illogical practically.
• Keep evidence if you do get a charge notice. Timestamps from the charging app, photos of any signage (or lack of it), and receipts can all be useful if you decide to challenge the charge. Our step-by-step guide to writing an informal appeal is a good starting point for anyone unsure how to structure their case.
• Understand your right to escalate. If an informal challenge to the parking operator is rejected, you generally have the right to escalate to POPLA or the IAS, depending on which body the operator belongs to, before any charge should reasonably be pursued further.

Looking Ahead

Cases like this one are likely to become more common, not less, as EV charging infrastructure spreads deeper into everyday retail spaces. Supermarkets have strong commercial incentives to install chargers, both to attract custom and to generate revenue from charging fees themselves, but the parking terms wrapped around that infrastructure haven't always kept pace with driver expectations.

For now, the responsibility largely sits with drivers to check the smallprint, however unglamorous that sounds. But the broader debate about fairness in private parking enforcement, including calls for clearer signage standards and more proportionate penalties for minor or short-lived breaches, is far from settled. Until it is, a seemingly harmless 16-minute charging stop can still end up costing rather more than the electricity itself.