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Rob Hull, Motoring Editor

Rob has been Motoring Editor across Daily Mail and ThisisMoney since 2021 having joined as Motoring Reporter in September 2015. He's been writing about the automotive sector for 20 years and specialises in all things that impact motorists in Britain. He previously worked at consumer watchdog Which? as a Senior Researcher overseeing vehicle testing and the UK's largest survey of car drivers. Before that, Rob was a reporter, road tester and serial crasher at Motorcycle News (MCN).

Coverage: Cars Electric Cars

MOST RECENT ARTICLES FROM ROB HULL

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Investigation raises concerns about the 'worrying' £40bn-a-year in debt locked up in car finance as the cost-of-living squeeze intensifies

04/11/22 07:00

Borrowing on vehicles has risen by 253% in a little over a decade, up from £11.2billion in 2009 to nearly £39.6billion at the end of June 2022, according to a new report. With average wages failing to keep pace with this level of growth and food prices, energy bills and inflation all going into overdrive in 2022, there are fears that many Britons locked into finance arrangements could struggle to keep up repayments and default on debts....read

Diesel rocketed by 10p per litre in October - the third biggest monthly increase on record - costing drivers an extra £5 to fill up a family car
03/11/22 01:39
Diesel started the month at 180.4p per litre and ended it at 190.5p, the RAC confirmed. It saw the price gap between petrol and diesel in October increase from 17.7p-a-litre to 24.1p.
Young drivers are delaying car repairs in an effort to save money during the cost of living crunch
03/11/22 09:00
An RAC poll of 3,102 motorists indicated that 37 per cent of motorists aged 17 to 24 years are putting off work to mend their vehicles as the cost-of-living crisis tightens the squeeze on their finances.
Bond car in bits sells for £417k: Bidding war between collectors sees the price of this dismantled 1964 Aston Martin DB5 rise £100k in final hours of auction
02/11/22 04:19
Classic cars are worth big money, but when the most collectible are offered to the highest bidder they're usually complete. Not this one, which went under the hammer for £416,900.
Romford named Britain's car theft capital: Insurance data shows drivers living there are most likely to have had a vehicle pinched
02/11/22 01:14
Data from 16 million insurance enquiries in the last year found that 19.87 of drivers per 1,000 in the large town in the London Borough of Havering had made a claim after their car was stolen.
Prices rev up for old Fiestas after Ford announces it is to end production of the hatchback after 47 years
01/11/22 10:11
In October 2019, the average second-hand Ford Fiesta price on the Auto Trader marketplace was £7,363. Today, this has surged 42% to £10,473.
Ultimate Fast Ford up for grabs: Last Escort RS Cosworth ever made with one owner from new heads to auction and is expected to sell for £60,000
01/11/22 05:05
The 1996 car is the last Escort RS Cosworth: the final rally-derived road car to come off the assembly line in Germany before production of the Ford family favourite ceased.
- 123 comments
- 12 shares
Battery start-up Britishvolt secures additional funding from new backer to avoid slipping into administration
01/11/22 03:12
The identity of the backer - or backers - has not been revealed, though sources close to the project have told the BBC that it is enough to keep the company operating for the 'short to medium term'.
More than 70% of drivers have been put off owning electric cars by soaring energy bills, AA poll finds
01/11/22 12:05
A survey of 12,500 drivers found that one in 10 highlighted surging energy prices as the reason they don't want to own an EV right now, while 63% cited it as one of the factors stopping them switching.
Drivers could be hit with penalty points for not wearing seatbelts as Government considers tougher punishments on the back of a rise in road deaths
31/10/22 06:47
The DfT is said to be considering introducing penalty points after it was revealed that almost a third of people killed in vehicles last year were not buckled up.
- 491 comments
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Electric car owners could face road tax by 2025 as Chancellor looks to plug £35bn-a-year revenue black hole with battery vehicle sales accelerating
31/10/22 04:41
Jeremy Hunt is said to be considering how and when to introduce taxation for the greenest models on the road to plug the revenue black hole lost in taxation on fuel and VED.
- 454 comments
- 11 shares
Firm behind plans for Britain's biggest electric car battery plant on the brink of administration: Britishvolt may slide into insolvency and take with it 3,000 future jobs in the North East
31/10/22 01:49
The group has been in emergency fundraising talks in recent weeks and could slide into insolvency today, says the Financial Times.
Pain returns at the pumps! Diesel back above £1.90 a litre for the first time in three months - 24p more than petrol - as drivers pay almost £105 to fill up
28/10/22 10:53
On Thursday, the UK average price rose to 190.12p, having fallen as low as 180.18p-a-litre at the end of September.
More electric car charging points in Westminster than Birmingham, Liverpool and Greater Manchester COMBINED as latest data shows huge imbalance in UK infrastructure
28/10/22 08:18
If the government is to reach its target of 300k public chargepoints by 2030, the average rate of installations will need to increase to 3,015 each month - a huge uplift of 245 per cent.
Electric car chargepoint firm Osprey cuts rates from £1 per kWh to 79p as Government's energy scheme helps curb record high costs... for now
28/10/22 08:14
The operator hit headlines last month when it said sky-rocketing wholesale energy costs had forced it to increase its public charging rates to three times what it costs EV owners to plug in at home.
Car production back in reverse after four months of growth as supply woes persist - and UK motor industry calls for support to protect electric vehicle exports
27/10/22 10:20
The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders said 63,125 units were made in British vehicle factories last month - that's nearly half of the levels seen in 2019, before the pandemic hit.
Luxury car ownership surged in the UK as crypto investors splashed out on prestige motors - before bitcoin and rivals plummeted in value
27/10/22 06:00
Analysis by national accountancy group UHY Hacker Young found that in 2020 there were 221,124 prestige models on the road but numbers rose to 241,391 last year.
Is this the best used car you can buy? What Car? names the hybrid BMW 5 Series as its second-hand model of choice this year
26/10/22 03:00
Drivers will need to hand over around £20,000 if they want a used version of the luxury German family saloon named What? Car's Used Car of the Year for 2022.
OFFICIAL: Ford will stop making the Fiesta in June 2023 ending 47 years of Britain's most-owned car that has amassed 4.8MILLION sales in the UK
26/10/22 10:18
The plucky small Ford has topped Britain's sales charts 16 times in its history, amassing over 4.8million UK sales in total.
New electric Lotus family car to cost £90k: British brand confirms 160mph Eletre 'hyper SUV' will arrive next year - and it is being built in Wuhan
25/10/22 03:59
Lotus has today announced official pricing and information about its all-new 'Eletre' - its first car to be built at its state-of-the-art factory in Wuhan, China - the epicentre of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Build your own Bond car: Rare 1964 Aston Martin DB5 up for auction is set to sell for around £300k - the new owner just needs to put it back together
25/10/22 10:29
The Aston Martin DB5 is a car that's synonymous with James Bond - and this example might need 007's Q Branch to help get it back on the road having been completely dismantled.
End of the road for the iconic Ford Fiesta: Britain's most popular car to be axed after 46 years and 4.8million sales as brand plots shift to electric vehicles
25/10/22 12:57
Britain's most popular car, the Ford Fiesta, is expected to be scrapped by the company after 46 years of production and 4.8 million sales, according to an insider
You've been charged! UK police forces have over 430 electric vehicles - these are the constabularies with the most and those that don't have any at all
24/10/22 02:00
A new investigation has revealed which UK forces have already started to switch to EVs and those that have so far refused to add a battery-powered car to their fleet of patrol vehicles.
Vigilante motorists attacking clamps put on their untaxed cars: Figures reveal 82,000 drivers tried to force wheel locks in the last five years
18/10/22 07:51
Of the 635,445 clamps locked onto vehicles by contractors working on behalf of the DVLA between 2017 and 2021, a staggering 82,475 of the shackles were 'gone on arrival'.
- 793 comments
- 27 shares
Police's new 'Big Brother' camera van that can catch motorists holding a phone and not wearing a seatbelt is detecting unsafe drivers every SIX MINUTES
14/10/22 03:01
National Highways said 152 drivers holding a mobile phone and 512 vehicle occupants without a seatbelt have been identified on the M40 and A46 in Warwickshire over a period of just 64 hours.
- 275 comments
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Shell ups prices at its 10,000 electric car charging points by up to 34% as the premium for not having a driveway and dedicated-EV tariff grows
14/10/22 12:22
Shell Recharge, which has over 10,000 public charging devices across the UK, will increase the price to use its rapid and ultra-rapid devices by 20p per kWh from 20 October.
- 694 comments
- 230 shares
Vehicle defects linked to 1,700 road casualties last year as experts warn not to cut back on car maintenance during cost-of-living crisis
14/10/22 10:51
Dodgy brakes, worn tyres and defective lights caused rise in road casualties last year, new figures reveal.
Price gap between a litre of diesel and petrol reaches 20p for the first time EVER - making filling up an average diesel family car £11 more expensive
13/10/22 12:36
Average UK pump prices on Wednesday saw petrol selling for 163.13p per litre, while diesel was 20.81p higher at 183.94p.
- 753 comments
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Dream garage up for grabs: Feast your eyes on this private collection of 18 iconic supercars and rally machines worth £40m that are ALL heading to auction
13/10/22 08:01
The cars are part of the incredible Gran Turismo Collection, which consists of 18 iconic cars from Ferrari, Bugatti, Lamborghini and the greatest era of rallying.
Tesla Model Y has new competition! Polestar's £80k 3 SUV has a range of 379 miles and is set to rival Britain's best-selling electric car from next year
12/10/22 05:00
Order books open online from today ahead of first deliveries from next year and go into direct competition with Tesla's Model Y. Here's everything you need to know about the new Polestar 3 SUV.
Pavement tax for electric car drivers without off-street parking: Rising cost of public charging means they face paying £227 more a year in VAT alone
12/10/22 11:55
Electric car drivers are paying four times the rate of VAT (20%) to charge publicly than those who benefit from being able to plug their EV in at home (5%).
End of the road for Jaguar's petrol sports cars: This is the last F-Type which closes a 75 year combustion-engine bloodline before it goes all-electric
11/10/22 02:17
When assembly stops at its Castle Bromwich plant it will close the book on petrol Jaguar sports cars, which stretches back to the XK120 and includes the 'most beautiful car ever made', the E-Type.
Serial motoring offenders to face longer driving bans after magistrates were found to be 'dangerously lenient' when issuing disqualifications
10/10/22 03:32
Confusion over sentencing guidelines has allowed motorists to get back behind the wheel sooner than they should only for them to then reoffend, and in some cases even kill, The Times reports.
- 96 comments
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A quarter of French petrol stations are OUT OF FUEL as refinery strikes cause widespread shortages and queuing - and it could push UK prices higher
10/10/22 02:16
French refineries have tightened supply and led to huge queues at forecourts across the country - and it also threatens to push the price of petrol and diesel higher in the UK.
- 306 comments
- 20 shares
Clapped-out classic Ferrari that spent the last 40 years in a garage sells at auction for over £80k - but could be worth THREE TIMES that when restored
10/10/22 09:42
The hammer price paid by the winning bidder on Saturday was £73,000 - though with auction fees on top, will amount to £81,760. But it could be worth far more than that when fully restored.
- 47 comments
- 4 shares
Weight on your mind: Are the heaviest SUVs and electric cars really so bulky that drivers could unwitting breach the legal limit for their driving licence?
08/10/22 06:37
Loading the heaviest motors with occupants and a large dog in the boot could see the vehicle weight surpass the legal limit for a conventional driving licence and mean they need one for an HGV.
A fifth of electric car buyers feel safe going green thanks to the Energy Price Guarantee - but drivers who can't charge at home face paying £600-a-year more
08/10/22 06:37
Liz Truss' 8 September announcement of an Energy Price Guarantee has reportedly had a big impact on electric car appeal, according to What Car?.
Is this the tyre of the future? Goodyear has created a compound from tree resin, sunflower oil and rice husk - and claims it lasts for over 300,000 MILES
07/10/22 03:02
The mixed of three sustainable elements also means the tyres can be 'renewed' twice during their lifetime, rather than needing to replace them outright.
Toyota restarts production of its £44k bZ4X electric car three months after issuing a safety recall due to a risk that the wheels could fall off during driving
06/10/22 05:00
Japan's largest automaker recalled 2,700 bZ4Xs globally in June after discovering that sharp turns and sudden braking could cause a hub bolt to loosen.
Next year's ULEZ extension could see two in five Londoners opt for electric cars - as leaks reveal two thirds of residents opposed expansion proposal
06/10/22 10:32
Report claims that 40% of Londoners will consider ditching their vehicles with combustion engines and jump straight into electric cars ahead of the zone's extension
Forlorn Ferrari that could be worth a fortune: Clapped out 1964 330 GT that's been sat in a garage for 40 years is set to fetch £70k at auction - but its value could TRIPLE if restored
05/10/22 03:06
The rare 1964 Ferrari 330 GT 2+2 Series 1 is one of only 36 right hand drive models ever built. If refurbished to the highest level, it could be worth up to £230,000.
- 76 comments
- 6 shares
ONE MILLIONTH plug-in electric car sold in September as plate change sparks a month of rising registrations - but growth is likely to wane
05/10/22 10:49
Industry experts warn that demand is likely to shrink in the coming months with the nation gripped by the cost-of-living crunch and big-ticket purchases cancelled.
'Electric car charging is safety roulette': Calls for improved standards over concerns women feel vulnerable at isolated and dimly-lit locations
05/10/22 07:39
Minimum personal safety standards to help protect women and vulnerable users at charging locations should be introduced, according to Heycar.
Rip-off at the pumps: Big fuel retailers are pocketing an extra 10p-a-litre in profits by keeping petrol costs higher than they should be, says RAC
05/10/22 01:00
To fill an average-sized petrol family car with a 55-litre tank in September dropped below the £90 mark for the first time in four months. But it should have been much more, the RAC says.
- 456 comments
- 11 shares
More than half a million uninsured cars have been taken off Britain's roads in the last five years - including 130,000 seized in the Covid lockdown
03/10/22 11:01
Of the 542,370 cars commandeered by police forces from 2018 to 2022, the most were seized in 2020 when Covid lockdowns and travel restrictions were in place.
- 190 comments
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How to spot ghost broking and why drivers need to beware this social media scam: Cases DOUBLE in a year as victims lose on average £2,000
03/10/22 12:59
The Insurance Fraud Bureau says the time is ripe for ghost brokers to target hard-up motorists who are looking to cut their outgoings during the cost-of-living crunch.
The £900k armoured SUV with a safe to store cigars and one for an AK47: Gold-plated Dartz Prombron Aladeen Edition MMXXII is the craziest car you can buy
03/10/22 06:42
Latvian tank-maker Dartz Motorz will make ten Prombron The Dictator Aladeen Edition MMXXII SUVs, which are inspired by the SUVs built for the 2012 film starring Sasha Baron Cohen.
A 1957 BMW 'bubble car' that Stirling Moss used to whizz around London and teach his son to drive in is going to auction - and could fetch £60k
01/10/22 06:00
The comically small motor will be offered to collectors at a classic car event in Birmingham and is predicted to sell for between £50,000 to £60,000.
- 72 comments
- 39 shares
Citroen's cardboard car: Oli is a £22,000 electric SUV made from 100% recycled materials that can go for 250 miles
30/09/22 02:53
Citroen's quirky electric Ami runaround has got a new green zero-emissions big brother called Oli. And parts of it is made from recycled corrugated cardboard.
Number of road deaths per billion of miles driven was higher than pre-pandemic last year while e-scooter collisions jump 193%
29/09/22 03:32
While the overall number of road deaths in 2021 was down on pre-pandemic levels, the fatality rate per billion miles driven increased compared to 2019.
Look away if you drive a diesel! Record price gap between fuels with petrol now 17p a litre cheaper - and it's due to Russia reducing its gas supplies
29/09/22 02:41
It means filling the tank of an average diesel family car is around £9 more expensive than an equivalent petrol.
- 363 comments
- 45 shares
UK car production increases for fourth consecutive month in August but soaring energy costs 'cast a shadow' over the recovery
29/09/22 11:16
Energy has emerged as the single biggest concern for UK automotive manufacturers, which have collectively racked up more than £300m in bills during the year to August.
- 17 comments
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Arrivederci Aventador! The last naturally-aspirated V12 Lamborghini supercar has left the factory - so what do we know about its successor?
29/09/22 06:00
The final car, an LP870-4 Ultimae Roadster in a special light blue paint, is the 11,465th Aventador produced since 2011. That's more than the sum of all other V12 Lambo models.
- 103 comments
- 1 share
Most and least reliable cars REVEALED: Whether you want a small city runaround or an SUV for the family, these are the models owners say you can depend on
28/09/22 11:01
With Britons in the midst of a cost-of-living crisis, the last thing households need is for their car to cost them an arm and a leg in repair bills. These are the most and least reliable brands and models.
A big price for a little car: Low-mileage 1965 Mini Cooper S sells at auction for £53,000 having spent the last 34 years in a GARDEN SHED
28/09/22 05:09
The rare timewarp Mk1 Mini sold at a UK auction at the weekend for a staggering £52,857, having been kept by the last owner for 57 years and not driven since 1988.
Rise in rogue MOT testers: Almost 700 technicians DISQUALIFIED in the last two years for dodgy practices and issuing fraudulent certificates - an increase of 50%
27/09/22 03:59
Some 687 MOT testers were disqualified in 2020 to 2022 financial years, compared to 460 in the two years previous, 2018 to 2020, DVSA records show.
The most efficient electric cars that can save drivers £1,300 a year in running costs as public charging prices soar 42% on May
27/09/22 06:00
Electifying.com has created an E-Rating for EVs similar to EPC ratings for houses and energy ratings for electronics and white goods. Here's the running cost differences for an A++ versus an E.
Dacia's £18,000 Jogger is half the price of a typical MPV - but is it half the car? We test Britain's cheapest seven-seater aimed at families on a budget
26/09/22 06:00
Can the Jogger really be considered as an alternative to a traditional MPV? We decided to find out by putting the budget-friendly family motor through its paces in a comprehensive review.
Energy crisis inflates electric car running costs: Drivers hit by 42% hike in price to use public charging points in just FOUR MONTHS
25/09/22 11:03
The RAC said the average pay-as-you-go rates to use the nation's network of chargers with the fastest speeds has increased by 18.75p per kilowatt hour (kWh) since May, reaching 63.29p per kWh last week.
Kwasi Kwarteng happy to 'engage' with call to cut fuel duty as drivers set to pay £5 extra for a tank of petrol due to falling value of sterling
24/09/22 12:03
The difference in pump prices is adding around £4.95 to the cost of filling up a typical 55-litre family car.
The electric SUV that claims to add 124 miles of range in FIVE MINUTES: China's Xpeng G9 family car could soon be sold in Britain
23/09/22 06:00
Xpeng, which has outlined plans to break into the UK market in the next three years, says a quarter of an hour charge will boost the G9's battery pack from 10 to 80%.
HALF of electric car drivers say they struggle to find a public chargepoint that works as Which? calls for 'urgent improvement' to infrastructure
22/09/22 11:01
Watchdog says the government needs to 'quickly address' a sundry of issues, namely poor reliability, difficulties making payments and poor availability in some parts of the country.
The cheapest cars for new drivers to insure: Top 10 is revealed as total first year bill for a young motorist to get on the road rises to £6,574 in 2022
22/09/22 06:00
The average total for taking lessons, passing a driving test and then buying, insuring and running a first car is now £6,574, according to GoCompare.
- 170 comments
- 3 shares
Chancellor urged to cut VAT on public electric car charging as operators warn rising energy costs pose 'severe threat' to EV switch
21/09/22 11:03
Bosses at 23 firms signed a letter urging Kwasi Kwarteng to make the 'simple, relatively low-cost intervention' as the rise in electricity prices 'threatens consumers' willingness' to switch to EVs.
Volvo's Big Brother tech is coming: Its next car will be the first to use cameras and sensors to detect if a driver is falling asleep or using their phone
21/09/22 01:05
The new EX90 will have a suite of tech that includes 8 cameras, 5 radars, 16 ultrasonic sensors, and a cutting-edge 'lidar' system to create 'an invisible 360-degree shield of safety' around the car.
Electric car chargepoint operator Osprey ups rates to record £1 per kWh making it pricier than fuelling a petrol model
20/09/22 10:18
It's the second rise in eight weeks, meaning charging an average-size electric family hatchback from 10 to 80% battery capacity will cost around £40.
A holiday romance with a supercar: We go behind the scenes at Lamborghini's pop-up showroom in an exclusive summer hotspot to target the super-rich
17/09/22 06:00
We have been given inside access to Lamborghini's temporary Sardinia lounge, which it sets up only in the peak holiday season to target the super-rich during their holidays.
Dacia unveils its Manifesto buggy concept for campers with a removable battery to power a kettle and seat covers that can be used as sleeping bags
15/09/22 02:26
Dacia is best known for selling some of the cheapest cars on the market with sparse levels of equipment, but its latest creation goes a step further by having no doors or windows.
The iconic American muscle car lives on: Ford unveils the new Mustang and confirms it will keep its burbling V8 engine instead of going electric
15/09/22 01:00
Jim Farley, Ford's CEO, said: 'Investing in another generation of Mustang is a big statement at a time when many of our competitors are exiting the business of internal combustion vehicles.'
World's sexiest supercar maker's trilogy model: Pagani's £2million Utopia is an old school V12-engined stunner that refuses to go electric
13/09/22 02:11
Unveiled by the flamboyant Italian marque, the follow-up to the jaw-dropping Zonda and Huayra is an equally-stunning piece of four-wheeled art that will be produced in limited numbers - just 99, in fact.
Britain's best-selling vehicle goes electric: Ford unveils new E-Transit Custom van with a 236-mile range and steering wheel you can eat your lunch off
12/09/22 02:24
It includes a 'Delivery Assist' mode that will shave around 20 seconds off every courier's drop off, and a tilting steering wheel that becomes a small table for checking emails on a laptop or eating a meal.
Premium-car problems: Range Rover named most unreliable used motor - and the top 10 list of least-dependable models is dominated by pricey brands
29/08/22 11:01
The previous-generation luxury SUV took the unwanted top spot in Warrantywise's annual Reliability Index, which has been exclusively revealed to This is Money.
Is it cheaper to run an electric car than a petrol? With energy bills soaring from October will there still be a payback for switching to battery power...
29/08/22 08:33
Energy price cap rises are likely to dent the cost-saving benefits of running an electric vehicle versus a car with a petrol engine. But by how much?
Inflation and scrapping of grants has made small electric cars up to £9k more expensive than a year ago as Britons are priced out of EV ownership
25/08/22 02:34
The Honda-e would have cost buyers around £28k a year ago but soaring inflation and termination of government incentives means it now costs £37k.
Is the parts supply crunch easing? UK car production rises for third month in a row - but increasing energy costs are the next big challenge
25/08/22 11:08
A total of 58,043 cars were built in the UK last month, which is 4,605 more than in July 2021 (53,438), newly-published figures from the SMMT confirmed.
- 36 comments
- 20 shares
MPs launch £20m scheme in fresh bid to boost EV charging infrastructure with nine areas across Britain the first to benefit
24/08/22 02:22
The Local EV Infrastructure promises to deliver more than 1,000 new chargepoints across England with joint funding from Government, industry and local authorities in pilot scheme.
Steve McQueen's cherished 1971 off-road motorcycle that the King of Cool kept until his death in 1980 has just sold at auction for $186,500
23/08/22 04:05
The 1971 Husqvarna 400 Cross is said to be one of the actor's favourite bikes in an extensive collection, which he kept until his death in 1980.
One-off Porsche 911 built as a road-legal replica of the Disney Cars character Sally Carrera sells at charity auction for a record $3.6m
23/08/22 02:19
It is the largest price paid for a new Porsche sold at auction with every penny donated to two different charities, one of which provides aid to Ukrainian refugees.
Virtual reality: McLaren unveils its £3m Solus GT hypercar that gamers have been driving on Gran Turismo for five years
22/08/22 01:16
Customers could get pointers on clocking the fastest lap times by speaking to computer game fans who have been using it in Gran Turismo since 2017.
Councils failing electric car drivers by not utilising millions of pounds in government scheme to boost the number of on-street charging points
22/08/22 09:50
Latest DfT figures reveal that just 107 councils across the UK have successfully applied for the On-street Residential Chargepoint Scheme launched in 2017.

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