A hotel in south Cumbria has added to its green credentials by launching a free car-share service which will prevent tonnes of Co2 from being released into the environment.

The Abbey House Hotel and Gardens, near Barrow, which is often used by executives who spend their working week in south Cumbria, is providing contractors with shared taxis to and from their place of work in a bid to reduce local road miles.

It has joined forces with local company City Lynx to deliver the fully funded service.

Hotel reservations manager Salli Kidson said: “We have made a number of moves in recent years to do our bit for the environment because we are believers that every little helps.

“The new car share taxi scheme is part of our ongoing efforts in this area.

"We noticed that during the week, dozens of guests on any one day would be making pretty much the same journey to the same destination, so there was an opportunity to affect positive change and also save them the cost of fuel and parking.

“The scheme has been very well received which we are delighted about.”

Many contractors were making a five-mile round trip into Barrow every day.

Based on a conservative estimate of 20 contractors staying at the hotel every week, Salli estimates upwards of 25,000 road miles - and more than 10 metric tonnes of Co2 - will be saved every year through the scheme.

Eric Garner, who is the owner of City Lynx, said: “We have been working with the Abbey House Hotel for around three years now, but this is a new initiative for us.

“It is positive in many ways.

"It provides an income for our drivers, a reliable service for the hotel’s guests and it massively reduces the number of car journeys on Barrow’s roads which is better for the environment and means less congestion and parking problems.”

City Lynx was established 13 years ago and has 29 cars operating across Barrow, south Cumbria and beyond.

It was bought by Mr Garner five years ago.