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Photo by shelley trussell<br />
I haven’t owned a car since my ancient VW Polo<br />
blew up 18 months ago. I didn’t replace it because I<br />
figured that as I lived three minutes walk from the<br />
office and could use the train or bus for my regular<br />
trips to Brighton, I could cope without. Anyway,<br />
when I did own a car, it was often just ‘abandoned’<br />
near the Pells, collecting leaves, bird droppings and<br />
the occasional broken wing mirror. The big ‘need’<br />
issue of shopping could be dealt with by regular<br />
‘small shops’ and the occasional home delivery,<br />
whilst holidays/visits to parents could be handled via<br />
occasional car hire. Generally this works, but ‘unplanned’<br />
trips and bad weather days (frequent this<br />
summer) lead to grumblings, and sometimes full-on<br />
doubts about the no-car policy. Luckily, however, it<br />
looks like there may be a handy solution right on the<br />
doorstep…<br />
Commonwheels Car Club is a joint venture between<br />
the company and <strong>Lewes</strong> District Council. When<br />
you join, as well as being able to book the two <strong>Lewes</strong><br />
cars when they are available, you also get access to<br />
the Car Club fleet in other towns across the country.<br />
The idea is simple. They provide cars in central<br />
locations, and their members use them when they<br />
need them. I start with a visit to their website, and<br />
discovered via their car-cost calculator, that my previous<br />
(I thought modest) usage had cost me around<br />
£4,000 per year. Which is a lot of cash to be a target<br />
for passing rooks and seagulls. I feel my ‘might join’<br />
tipping over to a ‘must join’. So I do. The initial<br />
W W W. V i Va L E W E s . C o M<br />
CommuNity Car<br />
The wheel deal<br />
w e t r y o u t<br />
stage takes a few days, including an on-line application,<br />
DVLA licence check and a joining fee of £25.<br />
Once registered, they send you a smart card and<br />
you’re off.<br />
For my maiden voyage, I book two hours and plan a<br />
‘useful’ trip. As our washing-machine blew up a few<br />
days earlier, the most useful thing I can think of is<br />
a trip to the laundrette in Ringmer. We also plan<br />
to use the time to stock up on heavy stuff - tins, cat<br />
litter etc. Despite the fact that the postman hadn’t<br />
arrived with my smart card, Commonwheels are<br />
able to remotely open the vehicle for me, and bang<br />
on time, I am in a new Ford Fiesta, heading off to<br />
collect my partner Shelley, and the washing. The car<br />
is great (from the inside you can’t see the less than<br />
subtle branding) and as we load up the boot, the<br />
postman arrives, enabling us then to open and close<br />
the car as intended by flashing the smartcard on a<br />
window reader. Within our two hours we achieve all<br />
our tasks, even managing to nip out to Southease to<br />
bring <strong>Viva</strong>’s designer Katie and her urgently needed<br />
computer back to the office. Two trouble-free driving<br />
hours later, I have re-joined the carless, but am<br />
walking with a smile on my face, knowing that next<br />
time I need a car, a quick trip online would easily get<br />
me one, because I’m in the Club now you know…<br />
Nick Willliams<br />
A 2 hour trip cost £13.25 (£8.50 hire charge plus £4.75<br />
for 25 miles usage at 19p per mile) 0845 602 8030<br />
www.commonwheels.org.uk<br />
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