Driving licence in maiden name: documentary evidence

I write to warn women with French driving licences that if they want to rent cars in the UK, they would do well to carry some proof their French licences are for the same person with a passport in her married name.

It is not enough, in some cases, to show the photos on both the licence and the passport.

I was in a car hire shop at Bristol airport. I had booked a car. I had my passport. I had the French driving licence. I hit a brick wall. The insurance would not cover me apparently when there was a name disparity. They needed a document to show my maiden name and my husband’s name on the same document.

Do you carry a marriage certificate with you at all times? Mercifully, I had scanned all personal certificates and stored them in my computer. I phoned my husband, who found the certificate and emailed it to me.

Be warned, ladies, and be armed with certificates.

Lucy Brett-Crowther,Deux-Sèvres