Most of Frome's electric car chargers out of use

More than half of the electric vehicle (EV) charging points have stopped working in a town.

There were five EV points in Frome, Somerset, but three have temporarily stopped working or been turned off.

Driver Catherine Honour said coupled with the charging points not working, more people were getting electric cars leading to huge demand for the two that are working.

Mendip District Council said it was trying to get more points installed.

Ms Honour, 28, said: "I'm not the only one in this position, there are multiple people that I have spoken to who are facing the exact same problem."

She said she did not have a driveway to charge her car and added the EV point at the Cheese and Grain stopped working 18 months ago.

"This week actually I couldn't charge my car at all because there was one charge point left back in town and it was in use," she said.

Frome Town Council helped to install the first five public charging points.

A spokesperson for the town council said: "There's been a significant increase in the number of electric cars on the road in the past year but we haven't seen the infrastructure to support it. 

"Frome like many towns, has a large number of houses with no off-street parking, so we need to see an increase in charging points in town so that Frome residents considering switching to EVs aren't put off by the impracticalities of charging."

The council added it needed more support from the higher tiers of local and national government to get more installed.

Meanwhile, Mendip District Council said it was "undergoing a procurement process regarding the provision of electric vehicle charging points (EVCPs) across the district, the result of which is imminent".

An update is due at the district council's next cabinet meeting on 2 November.