Question

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of reports of car hire companies not accepting customers aged 75 years or over; and what steps they will take to ensure that older drivers are not unfairly discriminated against.

Such refusals would be potentially unlawful under the Equality Act 2010. This legislation provides that it is unlawful age discrimination for a service provider such as a car hire company to refuse, on age grounds, to lease a vehicle to an otherwise qualified person, unless the company can, when challenged, objectively justify its decision.

Where a company cannot, in those circumstances, show that their leasing age policy is a proportionate means of achieving a legitimate aim, the individual affected can bring a claim to the County Court, or Sheriff’s Court in Scotland. The court may determine whether the “objective justification test” has been satisfied, and may award costs and compensation if the claimant wins their case. A range of guidance is available to service providers on their obligations and to service users on their rights, most notably on the Equality and Human Rights Commission’s website: https://www.equalityadvisoryservice.com, and through the Equality and Advisory and Support Service (EASS). The EASS can be contacted via its website, http://www.equalityadvisoryservice.com, by telephone on 0808 800 0082 (or by text phone on 0808 800 0084).