Surely Avis wouldn’t forge a signature...

J.H. writes: I read with interest your report about extra car hire charges imposed by Avis at Girona airport in Spain. I have a similar tale of £542 charged by Avis at Nice airport in France for services and insurance that I did not order, but for which I supposedly signed.

YOU have given me photocopies of two pages from Avis, both carrying your signature, one verifying the booking, the other authorising costs. What stands out is that the signatures are absolutely identical, down to the size of the letters and even including a tiny blot. And while the first signature is time stamped at 10.35am, the second shows 11.28am.

Despite this, Avis insists that your signature was not copied, that you did sign both documents and that you requested lots of expensive extras. The hire company told me: ‘The difference in time was due to Mr H signing the rental agreement at local time in France, and our third party verification company processing the signature in UK time.’

It would be interesting to know if other readers have had a similar experience.