City Car Club will almost double its Bristol fleet to around 80 vehicles following £4 million of investment.

The company, set up as a community project in Totterdown in 2000 with just two cars, now has 10,000 members nationwide with more than 1,400 of those members in Bristol.

The city now has the fourth largest membership base behind London, Edinburgh and Brighton.

Members can use vehicles situated in locations across the city, including St Werburgh's, Southville, Totterdown, Bedminster, Knowle, Whitehall, Redfield, Clifton, Kingsdown, Montpelier, Bishopston, Hotwells, Henleaze, Frenchay and Easton.

The recession has proved a positive for the company, which has seen an 80 per cent increase in membership numbers during the past year. In Bristol they increased by 118 per cent.

New vehicles will be introduced to Bristol over the next 12 to 18 months.

The company says the key factor for the growth is that increasing numbers of drivers are recognising that City Car Club provides a much cheaper alternative to owning a car.

Thomas Revell, 25, a software engineer from Hanham, signed up last February and uses the cars regularly.

He said: "I joined because I don't have a car of my own but found I would occasionally need one.

"Up until I heard about the City Car Club I would get a car from a conventional car hire company but you would need to pay around £30 a time.

"Now I can use a car for a couple of hours on the weekend and just pay for that.

"I have found it to be very good value and just about perfect for my needs.

"I cannot justify running my own car when I tend only to use one on weekends to go shopping.

"Having a car in Bristol can be a pain and I can't park at work so it works very well for me."

Members, who pay £50 to join, rent locally parked cars, which can be booked on the internet, by phone or at the cars themselves for as little as £3.96 per hour.

Membership includes 50 miles of free fuel per day. The price per hour is dependant on the type of car.

Users go to a selected bay and hold their membership card over the card reader on the windscreen, which unlocks the car.

inside the car, they tap their PIN into the onboard computer and turn the key to set off on their journey.

Journeys made are itemised on a monthly statement.

The company says that being a member benefits the environment too, saying each City Car replaces 22.5 privately owned cars on average and generally cut downs on unnecessary car journeys by 35 per cent.

The influx of money has come entirely from private investors and sees the national fleet increase from 350 to 600 vehicles.

City Car Club CEO James Finlayson, 45, said: "Ditching your car and joining City Car Club saves thousands of pounds a year. With this funding we will be able to expand and provide more cars for members."