Would you EV it?: Maintenance team ordered to charge their electric Falkirk Council vehicles on their own time

The Falkirk Herald was made aware of the policy this week and got in touch with Falkirk Council to clarify the situation.

A council insider, who wished to remain anonymous, said: “Falkirk Council building maintenance employees are being told to charge their electric vehicles in their own time. They were told under no circumstances to charge it in the council time as they will not be paid for this.”

Falkirk Council responded the policy was made quite clear to employees.

A spokesperson said: “We are against employees charging council vehicles during the working day when our tenants want them to be carrying out much needed housing repairs and upgrades.

"Vehicles collected from the building maintenance depot are fully charged and will last the entire day. Some building maintenance employees have the benefit of being able to take their council vehicle to and from their home.

"This saves them money and is good for productivity because they can drive straight to their first job in the morning rather than coming to the depot to collect their vehicles.

"In return, we ask that they charge the vehicles at the end of their shifts near their homes with the EV charge cards we provide for free, or that they charge the vehicles around the Falkirk area while on their lunch-breaks.

“If any employee does not wish to be involved in charging vehicles on this basis they can collect vehicles from the depot at the start of their shifts.”