EDINBURGH City Council has become the first fleet in the country to officially replace company vehicles with membership of a city car club.

The council took three cars to replace fleet vehicles in a scheme designed to save the council money, as part of the car club run by Smart Moves, a specialist pay-as-you-drive operator.

In March, the original car club in the city, run by Budget Car and Van Rental, closed down because of high costs, lack of customers and some vandalism problems.

City car clubs offer a pool of vehicles to residents or companies who are members, for hire by the hour, using hi-tech systems to monitor use and arrange bookings. Councillor Andrew Burns, executive member for transport at City of Edinburgh Council, received the three new vehicles, which will be used for daytime work journeys. At weekends and in the evenings, they will then be made available to members of the public who have joined the club.

Burns said: 'We are happy to support the car club by using these vehicles for business journeys and I look forward to the full relaunch of the club later this month.'

Smart Moves already operates car clubs in Coventry and Bristol. For further information, log onto the website.