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Highland Council van was blocking public EV charger for month at own headquarters





The van which was blocking the public charging point on Highland Council's own doorstep. Picture: Patrick Logue.
The van which was blocking the public charging point on Highland Council's own doorstep. Picture: Patrick Logue.

Highland Council staff are lagging behind on correct EV protocol with a council member highlighting that a local authority vehicle was left blocking a public charger for a month.

The vehicle was abandoned in the council’s own car park behind its Glenurquhart Road headquarters in Inverness.

Local parking wardens in the Highland capital spotted the van and issued a fine.

The vehicle was spotted multiple times by Councillor Patrick Logue (Liberal Democrat) who raised the issue at the council’s latest Climate Change Committee meeting yesterday.

The council has 52 charging points in depots across the Highlands but sometimes has to use public charging points for its 89-strong fleet of electric vehicles.

However, this only makes up about 8 per cent of all council vehicles, the rest of which are fossil-fuelled.

Council vehicles regularly block EV charging points, said Councillor Patrick Logue.

He stressed this was an ‘extreme example’ but said council vehicles regularly overstay their welcome.

“The council should be acting as an example when it comes to responsible use of public chargers.

“It’s like Highland Council putting a fine on one of our vans, it just makes no sense… No-one would block a petrol pump for days if they were not using it.”

Council officers said it was an ‘education issue’ and they would look into improving the local authority’s electric vehicle use.

The council’s electric vehicle use has declined in the past couple of years with officials citing a lack of charging infrastructure and EV range anxiety.

The local authority also have no ability to service electric vehicles so have to rely on local garages for maintenance.

A council report outlined training targets due to be completed earlier this year have not been met.

Officers said all of the senior management have been trained in the council’s net zero agenda, and training for all other staff will now begin in due course.

The hope is the training will include electric charging protocols and ensure electric charging points are available for use when possible.


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