THE BBC has launched a new structured employee car scheme for thousands of staff, whether or not they qualify for a company car.

The scheme is open to almost 20,000 BBC staff based in the UK, and has been launched in partnership with vehicle leasing firm Alphabet.

Called 'myDrive', the product provides employees with a new car for a fixed monthly payment, deducted directly from the employee's salary, and includes servicing, exhausts, road taxes, insurance and breakdown assistance.

Because vehicle ownership passes to the driver, there is no benefit-in-kind tax liability.

Stephen Dando, director of human resources and internal communications at the corporation, said: 'myDrive is very much in the spirit of our commitment to valuing people. We wanted to be able to offer all staff a benefit which is normally limited to those with company cars.'

myDrive costs the corporation virtually nothing to operate, with Alphabet bearing all the costs of setting up and administering the scheme.

Alphabet also guarantees the second-hand values of all myDrive cars.

Mike Baldry, chief operating officer of Alphabet (GB) said: 'As the record levels of new car registrations show, more and more people want the experience of being first-owners. myDrive offers the corporation's staff an attractive and highly competitive additional route into the new car market. We already provide similar schemes for other blue-chip companies, including the John Lewis Partnership.'

Alphabet has set up a dedicated myDrive team at its Hampshire headquarters to give advice and support to all BBC staff, and to provide post-delivery maintenance management for cars, which will be serviced through local dealers.

Cars featured on the scheme include Peugeot, Vauxhall, BMW and MINI.