Blue badge parking and EV bays

[Mjolinor]

 

Tried googling this and cannot find the rules. It is clear that parking in an EV bay when not charging will lead to a fine/charge but is it legal to park in them with a disabled Badge and a proper, diesel car?

Example here: https://www.google.com/maps/@53.85677,-2.1704279,3a,74.6y,347.66h,88.83t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1stJwwC6GOarxUltcw2bleJw!2e0!6shttps:%2F%2Fstreetviewpixels-pa.googleapis.com%2Fv1%2Fthumbnail%3Fpanoid%3DtJwwC6GOarxUltcw2bleJw%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D115.37045%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i16384!8i8192?entry=ttu

[FROSTYBALLS]

Think it depends on your Local Authority.

[Paul john]

No you can’t in Thurrock

 

[Mjolinor]

That line is not in my little booklet or in the online version of it.

It does seem to be set locally. The 0ne in the link is outside Wetherspoons (An admirable place to visit) and there is one disabled bay to the right of those EV bays that is always full and a couple of "anybody" bays that are always full. The next safest place to park is too far for me to walk. 🙂

Proper stupid place to put them IMO.

[Haliotis]

Disabled (Blue Badge) bays, Mother-and-Baby bays, and now probably EV bays will always take up the nearest spots to the store entrance in supermarket car parks.  So the elderly (and perhaps some not so elderly) who have walking problems but are not eligible for a blue Badge, will find themselves having to park some distance and have to simply struggle their way between car and store.

My wife does hold a blue Badge (she is not a driver), but any driver, whilst chauffeuring her, is entitled to park in a blue Badge bay.  However, we have already noticed that, at certain times of the day, these blue badge bays are woefully short of numbers.

[Mjolinor]

So with a lack of a sure answer I got in touch with Lancashire council and it is forbidden but the booklet has not been updated to include that.

It is in the process of being updated.

 

[Haliotis]

9 minutes ago, Mjolinor said:

So with a lack of a sure answer I got in touch with Lancashire council and it is forbidden but the booklet has not been updated to include that.

It is in the process of being updated.

 

Don’t hold your breath - after updating (eventually?) it still faces delays in the post!

[Gren]

In my local authority area you can only park in a charging bay if 'the vehicle is designed to be driven by electricity' and the vehicle is being charged at the time. So I can park there in my hybrid if the engine is running 😃

[Haliotis]

2 hours ago, Gren said:

In my local authority area you can only park in a charging bay if 'the vehicle is designed to be driven by electricity' and the vehicle is being charged at the time. So I can park there in my hybrid if the engine is running 😃

So it would need to be either a plug-in hybrid, or fully blown electric.  And you would have to stay in/with the car or risk it being nicked.

[Mjolinor]

Interesting that charging by running the engine is probably the only way you can use those charging bays legally. Even with a normal electric you are breaking the law by stopping in them because you are parked and not charging. Same when you unplug the charging cable before you drive off.

Typical half baked legal requirement specifically designed for fund raising.

 

[Gren]

1 hour ago, Haliotis said:

So it would need to be either a plug-in hybrid, or fully blown electric.  And you would have to stay in/with the car or risk it being nicked.

The regulations don't make it clear that the vehicle can only be propelled by electricity to the exclusion of any other fuel, and it doesn't say that it has to be being charged using the charging point provided.