AN ECO-CONSCIOUS motorist has been forced to fork out £150 for a new charging cable after the one he used was vandalised at a new electric vehicle charging point.

Andrew Lough, 36, of Musselburgh, said the charging point at the town’s Goose Green, which was only installed in recent weeks, was also left damaged after his cable was snapped, leaving part of it in the charger itself.

Problems first arose when his wife left their Mitsubishi Outlander at the vehicle charging point on Wednesday, May 8, at about 9.30pm.

When Mr Lough went to pick it up at 7am the next day, the cable had been unplugged but was undamaged. He bought a padlock so the cable could not be unplugged from the car.

Then, on Friday, May 10, he left the car there for three hours to charge and went home. But when he returned to his vehicle after 9pm, the charging cable had been forced from the charging box.

Mr Lough said the cable was snapped and the rest of it stuck in the charging point, resulting in him having to buy a new £150 cable.

“I tried to remove it from the charging box but could not get it out. I emailed the council to fix it,” he added.

He said the next nearest charging point for him was next to the public toilets at Shorthope Street.

“It is now a lot harder for me to find the time to charge the car elsewhere,” he said.

“I have had to reschedule things so I can take time to charge the car elsewhere.

“The charger at Goose Green was installed so that people without drives and on-street parking can charge close to home.”

Mr Lough, who works for a cashless catering in schools company, also said juice had been spilled over the machine.

A spokesperson for East Lothian Council said: “The council was informed of this vandalism and we immediately contacted our maintenance contractor that morning. The charger was returned to operation by early afternoon.

“The police have also been notified of this vandalism and we would advise anyone who witnesses such damage to get in touch with either the council or police on 101.”

A Police Scotland spokesperson commented: “We have received a report of vandalism and enquiries are ongoing.”