The pioneering car sharing scheme car2go has announced it is pulling out of the UK just a year after it set up its Birmingham operation.
The company made the announcement on Twitter, saying it would be winding up its UK business by the end of May.
It said: “We are sorry to inform you that we will be withdrawing from the UK by 05/30 -Thank you for your support & enthusiasm for car sharing and car2go.”
In May 2013 Birmingham became the second UK city to launch car2go, a scheme which allowed people to walk up to a car, get in and drive off.
It became the 19th city in the world to operate the scheme in the wake of cities like Vancouver and Berlin.
The car2go initiative run by Daimler and Europcar saw 250 Smart cars available for the use of scheme members over an area of 21 square miles.
A car2go spokesman said: “We’ve listened closely to customer feedback and taking the UK’s strong culture and tradition of private vehicle ownership into account, we have decided to withdraw from the UK marketplace.
“We are very grateful to all those who have supported the scheme and would like to say thank you to our customers in the city.”
The spokesman added that the company would keep its options and consider a return to the UK market in the future.
