Pay-as-you-go car club stalls in city

2:33pm Thursday 30th October 2008

A WINCHESTER pay-as-you-go car club which aimed to help cut pollution in the city has quit because it did not make enough money.

WhizzGo, which allowed customers to hire vehicles for £5 an hour, had four cars operating in Winchester.

But in a statement to customers on Tuesday, WhizzGo’s managing director, Steve Gregory, said the scheme was not profitable, and was being axed after just six months.

He said: “As I’m sure you can appreciate, for any business to operate successfully it must be commercially viable.

“In WhizzGo’s case, this means having enough people joining our club and using our cars.

“In the majority of our locations, our cars are very popular and highly successful.

“However, in a minority of our locations the take-up and utilisation of the service has fallen well below expectations. This results in us losing money on the cars in these areas.

“Unfortunately, our WhizzGo cars in Winchester fall into this category. Since launching we have been unable to attract enough members to make the service commercially viable.”

He added the service would end tomorrow (Friday), but did not rule out returning to Winchester if demand picked up.

WhizzGo marketing manager, Liam Grant, said its schemes in Southampton and Brighton were still a success, but more individual and business customers were needed in Winchester.

Robert Hutchison, who chairs Winchester Action on Climate Change, said the decision to quit was “disappointing”.

He said: “All we can say is that they are a business and they have to make a business decision.

“It could be that it’s an idea that’s a little ahead of its time, and Winchester didn’t have enough people to reach the critical mass of users that were needed, which you might have in larger cities.”

Martin Tod, Winchester’s prospective parliamentary candidate for the Lib Dems, said: “It’s a real shame because, as the World Wildlife Fund survey showed last year, we need to be doing more to cut our environmental footprint.

“I signed up to WhizzGo because I thought it was a good idea, and could be a good way of saving money as well as being better for the environment.

“It’s a shame that big employers like the city and county councils didn’t do more to get behind it.

“Ordinary people were backing it, but our local councils and other big employers could have done much more.”

Cllr Keith Wood, city council cabinet member for transport, said it supported WhizzGo by providing free parking spaces for its cars in central Winchester.

He added that officers were weighing up if the authority could use the service, but the firm quit before they could reach a recommendation.

He said: “It is a disappointment, as it’s a good scheme, but it clearly takes time to grow enough of a customers base.

“What we want to do now is to see if anyone else wants to start a similar scheme.”

Jim Sawyer, who chairs the Winchester branch of the North Hampshire Chamber of Commerce and Industry, thought WhizzGo was not promoted effectively.

He said: “I think it’s a matter of awareness.

“I can’t remember it being raised at any meetings of the chamber, so it doesn’t sound like it’s been promoted much.

“They also need to consider what kinds of business they want to appeal to, and whether it would be any use to them.”

WhizzGo charged members an annual fee of £49.50 and then around £5 per hour per car, including insurance and 30 free miles a day.

The firm said all its Winchester customers who wanted a refund on their remaining membership would receive one.