Uber has launched a car rental service in the UK for the first time, allowing people to book and hire a car through the firm’s app.

The service, called Uber Rent, has previously been piloted in France and Australia.

A new car hire option will now be displayed within the Uber app, the company said, from which users will be able to browse a marketplace of cars from Uber’s partner on the feature, CarTrawler, before booking a vehicle.

Uber said users will be able to book vehicles right up to the time of pick-up before picking it up from a CarTrawler location.

Jamie Heywood, Uber regional general manager for northern and eastern Europe, said: “Now that travel restrictions are easing and people are venturing out more, we want to help get the country moving safely again.

“Whether it’s public transport, bike and car rentals, car rides or even a boat, users can now make almost any journey on the app, pushing us further towards our goal of ending the need for private car ownership.”

Uber also confirmed its new system would follow other car rental companies across the industry in regularly deep-cleaning all cars and implementing strong social distancing protocols.

The ride-sharing app said users would see the new service appear once they had updated to the latest version of the app, when the new Uber Rent option would appear.