A WAY to drive a car and save money is being offered to people in Crediton and area by a co-operative car scheme that grew from the time when a Topsham woman, Betine Rogers, wanted to reduce the number of cars using her home town.

Co-Cars was born in 2004. There are now six cars in Exeter and Topsham with hopes of putting one in Crediton.

Alastair Mumford, Co-Cars director, who brought the blue Peugeot Co-Car to Crediton Farmers' Market this month, said the co-operative is run by volunteers. The car can only be booked online at present because of the cost of keeping an office manned.

"There has been a lot of positive interest today," said Alastair. "We hope to have a car as soon as possible, parked in a central space in Crediton, if we can find somewhere."

There is a charge of £4 per month to cover administration costs, plus 23p per mile. Alastair said the maximum cost of using a Co-Car for a day would be £40 plus mileage.

"Using a Co-Car will save people money if they do not use their own vehicle a lot or have a second car they don't use much," said Alastair.

"We do not compete with hire car companies, we are there for occasional useage. We are here to try to help people reduce car ownership. Cars cost a lot of money to run; this scheme really could help people to save money.

"There would be a dedicated parking space close to the centre of Crediton. It would be really good if this could be on or near the town square.

"Statistics show that people who join a car club such as this reduce their car useage. They tend to think more about when they travel and slowly but surely learn to live with less car use," Alastair said.

He added that the scheme can work for businesses as well as individuals, by using a Co-Car instead of staff cars or a fleet of vehlcles. More information can be found on http://www.co-cars.co.uk">www.co-cars.co.uk or telephone 0845 345 2544.

S Read