Nicola Sturgeon's SNP has been left red-faced after supplying police forces in the country with electric cars, but not the means to charge them.
With the aim to make themselves the greenest force in Britain, Police Scotland has invested nearly £20million on electric cars in the last three years.
But a Freedom of Information request sent by the Scottish Liberal Democrats found that 23 police stations had not been supplied with electronic charging points.
A police officer revealed what had happened to the electric cars their force was sent
A charging electric car
John Walton
They said: “Where I work they gave us five new electric vehicles but no charging point.
"They had to charge them via one cable through an office window and into a domestic three point socket…guess what happened to the socket...now the five vehicles are being deposited overnight in various council car parks across the town, in the hope that no damage comes to them.
"Meanwhile, we are back to using the old diesel cars, because at least we know where the service station is."
Liberal Democrats justice spokesman Liam McArthur said it was pointless spending millions on electric vehicles without the means to power them.
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 £10 million available to the Scottish Police Authority in March 2021 to invest in fleet modernisation and £5 million 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.”
