A while ago I grumbled about some of the issues involved in hiring a car, but there was another I wasn’t aware of. This problem emerged as I was on my way to return the car to the rental station, after a week of travelling the roads of Provence.

I had driven around all week with no problems, thanks largely to the GPS/TomTom which Mrs B had insisted we buy – and I have to begrudgingly admit that it makes driving a breeze, especially in town centres. Although it did let me down when I tried to use it to traverse Avignon on foot – instead of letting me walk 500 metres through the pedestrian centre it insisted I walk several kilometres around the ring road.

I forget what made me think that would be a good idea.

I was almost home when the police ‘invited’ me to pull over at the edge of the road. It turned out that my number plate was invalid – the number ’sixes’ were both missing their centres, which apparently isn’t permitted (presumably because it makes it difficult for radar-speed-trap cameras to read them).

I explained that it was a hire car, and the damage was nothing to do with me (it was marked as damaged on the hire agreement), but they still decided to check the car over carefully. In truth I probably looked a bit like a derelict after a few days travelling so I can’t say I blame them for eyeing me suspiciously.

Anyway it turned out the certificate of insurance stuck in the windscreen had expired three months earlier, which is also less than ideal.

After about half an hour of intense radio chat with HQ they gave me a couple of penalty fines to hand to the car hire company and let me continue on my way.

Two suggestions for car-hire companies:

First that they keep their cars in legal order (this was one of the biggest car hire companies in the world) and

second, that the first reaction on being given the penalty tickets should not be ‘these will be charged to your credit card’ but ‘we are very sorry for the inconvenience this must have caused you’.

But apart from that, and the mystery as to why petrol in ELeclerc cost 1.33 per litre in Avignon and 1.49 in Bergerac on the same day (do we always pay so much more than the rest of France or is Avignon always such a bargain), all passed very well.