An Edinburgh driver ended up being hit with the double whammy of an attack of diarrhoea and a £30 fine from the council after he had to leave his car due to illness.
Walter Grieve was charging up his electric car at his local Drumbrae Library Hub point and was stuck with the fine after not being able to make it back to his vehicle within the 12-hour time limit due to his illness.
Knowing he'd be hit with a fine for not getting to his car in time, the 66-year-old emailed Edinburgh Council to explain what had happened and to appeal the fine.
The driver has had an electric car since 2021 and explained that he usually sticks it on charge 'for about six or seven hours' but since he fell ill, he was an hour late picking it up.
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He said he'd stuck the car on charge at about 10am in the morning and it was 11:30pm by the time he was able to pick it up again.
"You register with the council and get a card to use their electric car charging points then you receive an invoice later," Walter said.
"I had left my car on charge at 10 in the morning and went home to have some lunch, I had been feeling unwell but managed to eat some food then became much more unwell later on."
"I had an upset stomach and was an hour late collecting it, when I arrived at around 11.30pm, I knew it had gone over the 12 hours limit. So I emailed the council early the next day to explain as I knew I would get a fine."
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He's since complained to the council and says that all he's heard from his local councillor after raising the council's 'lack of response' is that they're 'looking into it'.
Walter said that when they finally did get in touch, they asked for evidence to back up his argument but as he came down with 'a stomach bug and diarrhoea', he doesn't have any as the 66-year-old said a person 'wouldn't go to the GP for that even if you could get an appointment'.
He said that it is 'coming up for three months now' since he received the fine on 6 March.
A spokeswoman for the council said that officers have now responded to Walter asking for further information to assess the appeal and have advised this will be dealt with as a priority.
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According to Edinburgh Live, appeals against fines handed to drivers for parking in electric car charging bays for too long in Edinburgh have had an almost 50 percent success rate.
Since the overstay punishments were introduced a year ago there have been 226 appeals made and 103 of them have been successful, so Walter's chances of getting let off the £30 aren't too shabby.
Joe Harker