BUDGET Car and Van Rental's ground-breaking City Car Club in Edinburgh is one-year-old on Sunday and its success has prompted rocketing national interest in launching similar schemes. Since launch, the rental company has signed up 100 members for the scheme and was the key factor in Budget winning the coveted Fleet News Environmental Initiative of the Year Award, sponsored by Continental.

The scheme is expecting to double in size this year when City Car Club membership is offered in the price of houses on a new 170-home car free estate in the city. The City Car Club charges city residents for annual membership, then provides access to a pool of hi-tech rental vehicles which can be rented by the hour and monitored using sophisticated tracking technology to enhance security. This month, the London Borough of Southwark signed up to launch a similar club, the first of its kind in the capital, and neighbouring Harrow is also thought to be near to completing discussions.

Councils throughout the country have also shown interest in launching schemes, according to Roddy Graham, the firm's sales and marketing director. He added that several blue-chip companies were in discussions about adapting the schemes to corporate use to cut down on use of pool cars and providing pay on use vehicles to save money.