Europcar denies discrimination

An Israeli tourist has alleged he was refused a car rental at Melbourne Airport because of his Israeli driver’s licence, only to be served immediately by a competitor using the same document.

Noam, an Australian citizen living in Israel, was visiting Melbourne on Sunday for an Israeli real estate event when the incident occurred at the Europcar desk. The case was publicised the next day by activist group J-United.

Noam said the Europcar employee initially asked for his licence, then showed it to colleagues before requesting an international licence. He told The AJN that as the employee examined the document, he appeared to draw colleagues’ attention to the word “Israel” printed at the top.

“Then when I came in, it was a big discussion about where the licence was from,” Noam said.

The employee told Noam that Victorian regulations introduced in December required an international licence. When Noam pointed out his licence was almost entirely in English, the employee insisted he needed to “understand everything that’s written on the card”.

Noam told The AJN that at the adjacent desk, a Chinese couple were being asked to interpret their licence for the same employee to input into the system.

“I said, it sounds like it’s a little more than just that. It sounds like it’s starting to get to maybe the origin of my licence,” Noam recalled.

He walked to the Avis Budget desk next door, where staff told him Europcar’s position was “rubbish” and rented him a vehicle immediately.

When Noam’s wife photographed the Europcar employee, he called airport security. Noam said security staff “were apologising to us for what we have gone through”.

In a statement to The AJN, Europcar said it takes any allegation of antisemitism seriously and had conducted an investigation.

It said the rental was refused because Noam’s licence contained important details not written in English, and he had not presented a valid international driving permit or an accredited English translation, as required under its terms and conditions and consistent with VicRoads requirements.

The company said it had reviewed other international rentals and confirmed that all non-English licences accepted had the correct supporting documentation.

“Although this rental was cancelled due to our terms and conditions not being met, we acknowledge the distress this situation may have caused the customer,” the company said. “Europcar remains steadfast in its commitment to providing an inclusive experience to all customers.”