'Just taking the car out for a spin' will never be quite the same again

REVERSING out of your driveway on a dreich winter's morning with parked cars obscuring the view is a daily stress for many motorists.

But this could be the perfect solution: a driveway that spins 180 degrees, so that your parked car is always facing the right direction.

The car turntable – a device familiar in the comic-book pages of Batman, where the superhero used one to ensure a speedy exit from the Batcave – has arrived in Scotland for the first time.

Perhaps the ultimate auto accessory for the driver who has everything, it does not come cheap. It costs £7,500 – the price of a small car.

There are only about 35 such turntables in Britain, and an Edinburgh couple are thought to be the first people in Scotland to have bought one. They say it has helped them beat local parking problems.

James Simpson, a conservation architect, and his wife, Ann, a curator, said the turntable revolved so easily their Saab behaved like a wind vane in strong gusts when parked there.

But they have an oak wedge to stop the car spinning of its own accord, if required.

The turntable took more than a month to install and involved digging a 3ft deep hole to accommodate its concrete base and cylinder.

The device was topped with Caithness stone to match an adjacent path.

Planning permission and listed building consent were required before the work could be carried out at the couple's B-listed Georgian villa in the Stockbridge area of the capital.

Mrs Simpson, who works at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art in Edinburgh, got the idea from a display by the British Turntable Company at the Chelsea Flower Show several years ago.

Mr Simpson, a partner at Simpson & Brown Architects in Leith, said: "We have lived in the house since 1975, when parking was just about manageable, but it has since become impossible.

"We thought the turntable was an extravagance initially, but because the pressure on parking has grown, it will help the house appreciate in value. I am sure it's a good investment.

"What this has given us is convenient parking while retaining our front garden – we lost just 20 per cent of it.

"We did not have off-street parking before, and it would not be good practice for a conservation architect to pave over his front garden."

He went on: "The turntable attracts plenty of interest, and people passing the house have told us they think it's amazing.

"Older people are reminded of railway turntables, on which the driver and fireman could push round a steam locomotive.

"While the turntable was being built, we had a notice up inviting people to guess what it was. Suggestions included a fountain, fish pond and even a family mausoleum."

The British Turntable Company said this was the first of its turntables to be installed in Scotland, but it had since had several inquiries.

A spokeswoman for the firm said: "Inquiries and sales are steady year-on-year, but they are not selling in huge numbers.

"However, the turntable does solve quite a few problems in relation to access to domestic properties."

MOTORISTS JUST LOVE THEIR GADGETS
TURNTABLES are just the latest in a long line of devices that drivers have been snapping up.

Increasing concern for vehicle security and the availability of more sophisticated electronic gadgets are fuelling accessory spending. Owners are buying lockable bollards for their driveways and in-car safes – to protect both their vehicles and their increasingly valuable contents from thieves.

The car accessory firm Halfords said motorists' favourite buys included satellite navigation equipment, in-car DVD players and devices to connect iPods to car stereo systems. It said people were also splashing out on expensive cleaning equipment, such as pressure washers, like those found at forecourt car washes, and hand-held polishing machines.

A Halfords spokeswoman said: "Drivers like to make subtle modifications to personalise their cars."