Edinburgh Lord Provost’s green car aims fuel challenge to bin BMW

LORD Provost Donald Wilson was challenged today over his stated ambition to swap the civic BMW for an eco car.

Green councillor Gavin Corbett quoted Cllr Wilson’s comments to the Evening News in May when he said he wanted to be an environmental ambassador.

He said: “I know you are still having to use the old energy-hungry cars because I saw you in one of them recently when I passed you on my bike as you were stuck in a traffic jam near Balgreen. As a society we need to break the link that says status equals big car and big car equals status.

“Who better to break that link than the Lord Provost of Scotland’s capital?”

But Cllr Wilson told Cllr Corbett that he has already tried out a hydrogen-powered Hyundai i35 and an “inverted hybrid” Vauxhall Ampera, which runs mostly on electricity with some petrol, and is due to test a Lexus inverted hybrid in the New Year.