No country for old men trying to hire cars

‘I put in my age – 79 – and suddenly the car vanished. “The car you are looking at is no longer available,” the screen said.’ Photograph: Getty

Three times recently I have tried to hire a car from Knock airport in the west of Ireland. Each time I have had the same experience. A few days ago I tried again – I went online and picked the car, a small runabout. Smashing – cheap deal for a week. I put in my age – 79 – and suddenly the car vanished. “The car you are looking at is no longer available,” the screen said. The ageist fairy had waved its magic wand and de-materialised €25,000 worth of Korean engineering.

So I tried again and this time lied about my age, saying I was 60. No worries, straight to payment – how many cars did I want? (I am still getting emails from the company asking me to finalise the deal.)