Europcar apologises for blocking Shetland family without passport ID

Europcar has apologised after a family from Shetland could not hire a vehicle in Glasgow because they didn't have passport identification.

Orkney and Shetland MP Alistair Carmichael had contacted the company after a father who was with his young child could not collect his car as planned and had to go to another company.

Carmichael said policy seemed to indicate people from UK islands including the Northern Isles were overseas customers and needed a passport.

Europcar has now apologised, and said wording in the company's internal guidance had led to an "unintended and inaccurate classification" of island communities.

The family involved had travelled from Shetland to Glasgow to attend a wedding.

The father had earlier completed Europcar's online check-in process and received confirmation that the vehicle was ready for collection.

When the car hire was refused as he did not have a passport, he instead had to hire a vehicle from another company at short notice.

After the case was highlighted, Europcar said it wanted to sincerely apologise for the "inconvenience and distress" caused.

"The company fully recognises that residents of Shetland, Orkney, the Hebrides, the Isle of Wight and other UK island communities are part of the United Kingdom," a statement said.

"The issue highlighted relates to the company's customer verification process that is designed to support identity and fraud prevention requirements where qualification checks are processed through its electronic verification system which does not recognise postcodes from a number of UK off-mainland islands.

"Unfortunately, the wording within the company's internal guidance has led to an unintended and inaccurate classification of these communities as 'overseas' for administrative purposes. The company acknowledges that this terminology is inappropriate and does not reflect their constitutional status within the UK."

The company is reviewing both the wording and the associated process "as a matter of priority".

Europcar said it had offered the customer involved a full refund, as well as a refund for any additional costs for the alternative rental.

Lib Dem MP Carmichael described the situation which had arisen as "bizarre".

He said: "I am delighted that Europcar has apologised and that they have offered my constituents a full refund of the costs they incurred as a result of this error.

"I am also glad that the company is taking steps to improve the clarity of their processes to ensure that such a circumstance cannot happen again.

"While this should never have been allowed to occur - and it really should not take the intervention of an MP to stop this sort of behaviour - if more companies could accept their mistakes with this sort of speed and good grace then the world would be a better place."

He added: "Islanders deserve the same basic rights as anyone else in the UK."