Zipcar's closure is a disaster for me... and the environment

The probable closure of Zipcar, the UK's leading car-sharing company, is a bloody shame – and a disaster for me, personally

- By JONATHAN MARGOLIS

For the tens of thousands of people, me included, who rely on Zipcar in London – it has already failed in Bristol, Oxford and Cambridge – it's going to require a substantial rethink of how we live. We’ve managed very happily without a car for the past five years in London, using Zipcars and their sister vans as needed. Saves a fortune, no worries about all the usual car stuff, and environmentally beneficial. Seems a win, win, win.

But yesterday I received an email telling me that my beloved Zipcar will be shuttering its UK operations by 31 December. Dude, where’s my Zipcar - and what gives?

With Ubers becoming ever more expensive and hard to get, and black London cabs a luxury for the rich, we may have to consider buying a car - which neither we Zipcar users, Londoners in general, nor the planet need in the slightest.

As Caroline Russell, leader of the Greens in the London Assembly, has said, the expected closure of Zipcar is “grim news”. She depends on it, she explains, to visit her elderly mum.

The inconvenience of Zipcar disappearing is less than if, say, the Tube ceased to exist, but comparable to, for instance, washing machines being outlawed or the most useful local bus routes permanently withdrawn.