Posted on December 17, 2008 by Fiona Hilliard

This important safety warning comes courtesy of  The Independent’s travel news section. 

Returning his hire car after a recent holiday, renter Chris Parry realised every driver’s worst fear:

“I left my hire car at Murcia airport but realised that I hadn’t picked up the rental contract from the glove box.  I went back to what I thought was my car and took out the contract from the glove box.  I went back to what I thought was my car and took out the contract.  I went into the departure lounge.  It was then I saw it wasn’t mine and realised that I must have gone in the wrong car.  I wasn’t too bothered until I saw all the information about the person who had hired the car, her address, her passport and driving licence number, her date of birth and even some details of her credit card.”

“I persuaded the Guardia officer to allow me out of the departure lounge and I went back to the car park and found my own contract.  The moral must be to take your contract home with you.”

We couldn’t have put it better ourselves Chris!  Our advice to customers is to always practice extreme caution with documents containing personal/credit card information and never leave paperwork or contracts containing personal information lying unattended in your car.