I HAVE been driving an environment-friendly hybrid car since March and the more I use it the harder it is to understand why more people are not doing the same.

I reckon that my Toyoto Prius has halved my fuel costs and saves me £8 a day because it is exempt from the London congestion charge. And it is really a joy to drive.

It certainly wasn’t love at first sight. When I test drove it I thought it was probably the ugliest car I had ever seen. I had to wait three or four months for it to arrive and there was none of the excitement you would expect with a new car because, to be honest, I thought it would be boring. But far from it.

I still don’t think it is a thing of beauty but I am willing to overlook that because it is so cheap to run. It uses an electric motor which recharges itself alongside its petrol engine.

I work odd hours in Wapping, East London, but live in the countryside south of Reading, to the West of London, so I have no option but to drive.

I travel through Central London up to five days a week which would cost me nearly £150 a month if I were not driving a green car and had to pay the congestion charge.

I probably average about 50 miles per gallon now, which is much better than my old car. I certainly do not have to fill it up so often.

And, although I still have my old Land Rover Discovery, I use the Prius all the time because it is so much cheaper, cleaner and so easy to drive. It handles well, the road holding is good, the turning circle is great and it is very quiet, which makes it much more relaxing to drive.

In fact it is spooky when you start it up because there’s no noise, just an eerie silence as you glide along before the engine kicks in.

I bought the most basic model you could for about £17,500 but I received a £700 government grant towards it because it’s a green car.

The Treasury also subsidises my driving to the tune of £105 because the road tax is £65 instead of £170, for a vehicle above 1549cc.

I suppose the Prius is really a combination of my bank manager and my conscience speaking.