Zipcar has announced that is proposing to cease operations in the UK, subject to formal consultation with affected employees, by the end of the month.
As many national news outlets have reported, the US-based company, which is owned Avis Budget, informed its 650,000 members that it would temporarily suspend new bookings after 31 December. Zipcar shut down its operations in Oxford, Cambridge and Bristol in 2024 to focus on its London market, where it has more than 550,000 members, but the suspension of operations coincides with the decision by Mayor of London Sadiq Khan’s intentions to extend the Congestion Charge to electric vehicles, a move that would have been potentially hugely damaging to the firm’s EV fleet.
Zipcar’s UK general manager James Taylor said in email to its customer base: “I’m writing to let you know that we are proposing to cease the UK operations of Zipcar and have today started formal consultation with our UK employees.
”We will temporarily suspend bookings, pending the outcome of this consultation.”
(Picture: Zipcar)
