Laundrettes, shipping containers and a tent: Unusual election polling stations welcoming voters

As polling booths take centre stage on Thursday, some voters are exercising their democratic right in the most unusual of places.

While the majority of the population head to a village hall or a local school to ballot, others may find themselves queueing for somewhere far less traditional.

From shipping containers and caravans to launderettes and pubs, these quirky polling stations are redefining the voting experience.

In Oxford, a polling station has been installed inside a laundrette. Staff-manned tables placed in front of rows of washing machines at the makeshift venue.

A pop-up tent was attached to a caravan in Carlton, Cambridgeshire awaiting voters. Stuck to the side of the plastic window panel of the tent, a traditional black and white poster reads: "POLLING STATION".

In Andover, Hampshire a shipping container is being used as a temporary building. Similar portable cabins were spotted in Battersea Power Station and Norbiton railway station in London

In Whitley Bay, voters may be looking to the future but there decisions are made on the grounds of the past. Locals arrived at the Whitley Bay Cemetery and Crematorium to mark their choice.

From 7am to 10pm polling stations are open for people to vote for the MP they want to serve their constituency.

The counting of votes will start immediately after and by Friday, the UK government and its political priorities for the next four years will have been decided.

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