Not upheld: termination of hire agreement and application of rejoin sanction complaint against Motability Operations Limited

Decision detail

Summary

Mr A complained that Motability Operations Limited unfairly terminated his car hire agreement and imposed a two-year rejoin sanction after he was convicted of driving under the influence of unprescribed medication. Mr A, an amputee with serious health conditions, argued that losing the car prevented him from attending medical appointments. MOL had reduced the sanction from four years to two years in recognition of his medical circumstances. The ombudsman did not uphold the complaint, finding that MOL had reasonable grounds to terminate the agreement due to the unlawful use of the vehicle and that the reduced two-year sanction was fair, despite sympathizing with Mr A's difficult situation regarding healthcare access.

The Ombudsman's reasoning

The ombudsman found that Mr A's driving of the car while under the influence constituted a breach of the hire agreement terms, which explicitly prohibited unlawful use of the vehicle. MOL had reasonable grounds to terminate the agreement given the safety concerns to Mr A and other road users, and the financial risk to its asset. The ombudsman noted that MOL had reduced the sanction from four years to two years in recognition of Mr A's medical circumstances, which was fair. While sympathizing with Mr A's difficult situation regarding access to medical appointments, the ombudsman found no grounds to direct MOL to take further action, as the termination and sanction were reasonable responses to the breach.

How this compares

Source

Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website