A couple who set up a business hiring out Volkswagen vans as wedding transport after their jobs were placed under threat are taking their first bookings.

Bishopsworth couple Nigel Bankhead and Deborah Godfrey set up alternative wedding car company VW Split Screens in March when their jobs at a Bristol building firm were at risk.

They were hopeful that discerning brides and grooms would back their new business and steer them away from financial uncertainty by choosing to hire a trendy van for their big day.

Mr Bankhead says three couples have now booked their van for their weddings and bookings have also been coming in from an expected source – schoolchildren looking to make a stylish entrance at their end of year prom parties.

VW fanatic Mr Bankhead said six bookings had been taken for the school proms and despite a slow start, business was beginning to pick up.

He said: "It seems that kids will do anything to outdo each other and because the split screens are something different, they are all trying to book us. I've seen it as a bonus.

"I've also put a few signs up in south Bristol advertising the company and that seems to have worked. People have been saying 'we know you do weddings, but do you do proms?'.

"We've got weddings lined up at Ashton Court and another is in Bibury in Gloucestershire."

Fearing redundancy, Mr Bankhead and Ms Godfrey set up VW Split Screens after their pay and hours were scaled back in their jobs at a Bristol building company. Mr Bankhead says he now only works two days a week.

They have invested £40,000 in their company, following in the tyre tracks of similar successful businesses in Cardiff and Essex.

The couple's two vehicles, which were bought for £6,500 each, were restored and reupholstered by Hengrove Bodyworks.

They have a 1967 green and cream VW van which had been used as a minibus for a postal company in Germany and a 1966 cream Westfalia SO42 van formerly used in America.

Each vehicle has had its dated interiors stripped and replaced with modern upholstery and finishes using parts imported from Brazil and Germany.