SNP spend £20MILLION on electric police cars, but no chargers

NICOLA STURGEON's SNP-led Scottish government has been ridiculed for forking out £20million on electric police vehicles - but not providing any way to charge them.

There are 23 police stations across the country that currently have the vehicles but no way of recharging them on-site. Instead officers must rely on public plugs and those from partner organisations to power their vehicles.

In total, Police Scotland has invested nearly £20million in electric cars in the last three years.

The force says they want to be the greenest in the UK and that the cars will help provide "a fit-for-purpose, efficient, effective and sustainable 21st century police service”.

A further 21 sites have just 28 chargers between them to keep their vehicles ready for use.

The staggering stats were uncovered in a Freedom of Information request.

A Scottish Government spokesman said: "We continue to support Police Scotland and the Scottish Police Authority's (SPA) ambition to move towards a more sustainable policing fleet.

“In recognition of this, the Scottish Government made an additional £10million available to the Scottish Police Authority in March 2021 to invest in fleet modernisation and £5million is included in the SPA capital budget in 2022-23 to support greening the police fleet.

“Despite cuts to the Scottish Government’s capital budget we have more than doubled the police capital budget since 2017-18, supporting continued investment in police assets including the vehicle fleet to ensure officers have the tools they need to do their jobs effectively."

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