A COMPREHENSIVE database of every commercial property in Britain is being compiled with the help of a fleet of specially-adapted Toyota Prius cars.

Focus Information has taken on its first cars, 14 top-of-the-range Prius T-Spirits for its newly-recruited field researchers.

The passenger seat of each car is equipped with a high-tech docking station for a laptop, 3G card and GPS tracking, enabling researchers to gain information about each property without having to leave their car.

Focus information director Matthew Hopkinson said: ‘Ordinary battery cars would have been a waste of time as we need to power so much kit. We reckon we’ll be able to average 50mpg despite the stop-start driving we’ll be doing and that’s way in excess of what any other vehicle could give us.

‘We’ll be recharging the battery as drivers go to and from their grids, so the Prius provides the most efficient and environmentally-friendly way of collecting the data.’