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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Business
Jasper Jolly

What has gone wrong at Zipcar – and is UK car-sharing market dead?

A Zipcar parked in front of a graffiti covered building in London.
Zipcar says it will close its UK operation, removing access to its shared fleet across London at the end of this year. Photograph: William Barton/Alamy

Rotherhithe Community Kitchen in south London has been delivering hundreds of cooked meals a week for the last two years to pensioners and vulnerable residents. Yet the volunteer group’s plans have been thrown into disarray by the news that they will not have access to cars and vans on New Year’s Day.

The group had relied on Zipcar, the car-sharing company that offered customers the ability to access its fleet of vehicles from the street using an app. The company caused shock across London on Monday when it said it would shut down UK operations from 1 January.

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