Thrifty Car & Van Rental is planning a major increase in the number of its outlets this year to meet corporate sales demand.

By opening new outlets the company also hopes to significantly cut the number of miles driven on deliveries and collections.

Thrifty estimates that over five million miles are driven every year to deliver and collect its rental vehicles.

The company hopes to have an outlet no more than 30 miles from where a vehicle request is made.

In major conurbations the distance will be 15 miles.

New Thrifty locations will open in Darlington and Birmingham later this month, with outlets in Doncaster, Chester, Derby, Stoke on Trent, Shrewsbury, Hereford & Worcester, Newport, Swansea, Croydon, Dartford and Ashford to open during 2008.

The company’s managing director, Roger Hancock, explained why these locations have been chosen: “We have identified areas of weakness in the country with regard to our vehicle rental locations.

"However this was not just a geographical exercise, but an analysis of the areas where we have experienced an increase in business from our national account corporate base.

"By identifying these areas and correlating them to the map of our branches and their delivery radius, we have been able to pick out the regions not yet covered efficiently by a Thrifty branch.”