A PETROL station on a busy Colchester road was temporarily closed to motorists while engineers worked to install charging cables for electric cars.

BP petrol station, in Ipswich Road, was barriered off on Tuesday morning as a part of the company's ambitious plans to establish electric vehicle charging ports across the UK. 

When asked by the Gazette how long the site was likely to remain closed for, the fuel supplier was unable to specify when it would re-open. 

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A Colchester resident who had tried to access the petrol station said: "Apparently work is being carried out and so it is going to be closed for a couple of days, so it might not be open again until Thursday."

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The Gazette, however, understands petrol station has now reopened.

Bosses at the firm have said works to bring new EV charging stations to garages throughout the country are well underway.

A spokesman from BP said: "We are currently having electric cables installed for EV chargers on our station on Ipswich Road in Colchester. 

"We are unable to provide a timeline but this work is well underway.

"BP Pulse plans to invest £1billion in electric vehicle charging in the UK, supercharging the roll-out of fast, convenient charging across the country.

"The investment will see our petrol station include more charging ports with faster charging speeds.

"We would like to apologise to our customer that might be affected by temporary closure."