AVIS Preferred, Except Jews: An Unforgivable Display of Antisemitism in Blackpool

AVIS Preferred, Except Jews: An Unforgivable Display of Antisemitism in Blackpool

In the year 2025, one might hope that multinational corporations like AVIS Budget UK would have evolved beyond the crude bigotry of the past. Sadly, that hope has proven misplaced.

It has come to light that AVIS Budget UK, through its agent in Blackpool, Lancashire, has demonstrated an appalling example of open Jew-hatred directed at a loyal, long-standing customer—a customer who has been an AVIS Preferred member for years.

This individual, who has rented cars from this same branch dozens of times without incident, was subjected to petty, vindictive behaviour the very first time their Kippah was visible.

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Let that sink in. Every other visit to this location—every single time—the customer wore a baseball cap covering the Kippah. No issues. No problems. No hostility. Always served by the same member of staff. But the moment this Jewish customer’s identity was visible, your agent’s veneer of civility cracked.

The contempt was palpable. It was evident in the tone, the demeanour, the carefully measured obstruction: refusing to release a deposit hold that has always been released without hesitation in all previous rentals. Worse still, the invoice issued by your Blackpool agent did not match the amount paid in advance. Additional unexplained charges were deducted on top of this discrepancy—charges that, though small in sum, were never justified or accounted for. When challenged, your agent, visibly agitated (a state witnessed and remarked upon by another person present), could offer no credible explanation for the inconsistencies.

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It is important to emphasise: this customer always pays for full coverage, meaning that under no circumstances would any alleged damage ever result in additional charges. Yet, despite this fact, the discrepancies were neither clarified nor credited when the vehicle was returned.

Make no mistake—this is not about a minor accounting error. This is about a company whose stated commitments to “inclusion” and “diversity” collapse the moment an employee decides a Jewish customer should be singled out. This is about an employee whose bigotry AVIS has chosen, by its inaction, to shelter.

It is disgraceful. It is cowardly. And it will not remain hidden.

The customer you targeted is not a nameless, powerless individual. He is a director of a global news agency, an advertising agency, and the executive director of a synagogue—someone with both the means and the determination to ensure that your conduct is broadcast far and wide. The public has a right to know that when you rent from AVIS in Blackpool, your experience may depend on whether your faith is visible.

Your brand will now be inseparably linked to the image of a petty clerk sneering at a Jewish customer. No amount of marketing budgets or shallow slogans will wash that stain away.

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Let this be a warning to any company that believes antisemitism is a risk worth tolerating: in an age when information travels instantly, your contempt will follow you forever.

AVIS Budget UK—you should be ashamed. Refund the customer’s funds without further delay. Offer a genuine apology, not a legalistic excuse. And above all, accept that the public is watching—and your reputation is now on the line.