A warning has been issued to electric car owners as thieving gangs are now targeting home chargers, which would leave motorists with a £700 bill.
A meeting at the Hungerford Town Council’s highways and transport committee in the Thames Valley saw Councillor Alistair Fyfe note he heard a spate of thefts from residents at the town’s new Lancaster Park development.
Gangs are starting to turn their attention to stealing electric car chargers which motorists plug in at home to save going to public pay-as-you-go points where they could face lengthy queues.
Many people simply hook up their cables from their car to a socket in a garage or on an outside wall while they relax indoors, often leaving it connected overnight.
Thieves have realised the chargers and cables are easy to take and they can sell the cable on the second hand market for up to £200 – and the scrap value for the copper in the cable alone going for around £50.
Motorists could find themselves paying up to £700 for a brand new replacement charger.
A warning has been issued to electric car owners as thieving gangs are now targeting home chargers, which would leave motorists £700 out of pocket (file photo)
A meeting at the Hungerford Town Council’s highways and transport committee in the Thames Valley saw Councillor Alistair Fyfe note he heard a spate of thefts from residents at the town’s new Lancaster Park development (file photo)
The cables are sometimes stolen from the vehicle’s boot, but can also be removed at a charging point if the car is left unattended.
Councillor Fyfe told the meeting that up to fifteen chargers have been stolen from Lancaster Park alone.
‘Some have been stolen from garages and some from unoccupied premises,’ he detailed.
‘Four or five were stolen from one particularly dark area and one or two residents weren’t happy about it being so dark.
‘Perhaps the developer Bewley Homes can look at lighting – they all pay a service charge to a management company to look after the grounds.’
Hungerford mayor Helen Simpson told the Newbury Weekly News she has been made aware of the issue and had raised it with the local neighbourhood police team.
‘We need to make people aware that it’s happening.’
Motorist organisations recommend installing CCTV where possible to deter thieves from stealing electric vehicle chargers from homes.
