In May, we travelled to Mallorca for a short weekend and hired a car from Gold Car Rentals. We have used them many times before.

On our return to the airport, just outside Palma, we had a puncture. We pulled over and went to the boot to change the tyre. In the boot we found the original tyre, badly damaged. It then became clear that our punctured tyre was in fact the spare.

On looking at the vehicle more closely, it seemed that there was other damage to the vehicle.

It was Sunday and to cut a long story short, Gold Car asked us to leave the vehicle and taxi to the airport, which we did.

As we were concerned about the possibility of extra charges for damage which was not our responsibility, we emailed Gold Car on our return home and raised this concern with them, asking to be invoiced only for the punctured tyre. Unfortunately, we had not taken tyre insurance on this occasion.

Coincidentally, the card on which the hire was paid was cancelled soon after the trip.

We heard nothing for a few weeks then we noticed that another credit card had been debited by £317.57. We can only assume that this card was used on an earlier booking and Gold Car had trawled their records, debiting a still active card.

We still had not received a reply from Gold Car and £317.57 seemed dear for one tyre so we asked for a reply and breakdown. Again, we heard nothing so we sought advice of the card company who after consideration, said they would arrange the account to be credited.

Gold Car then replied and say that the sum represents two tyres and a wheel. In a later email they also state there was damage to steering.

The problem here is that my husband did not check the condition at the point of collection so it's a case of their word against ours. We have tried to be reasonable, offering to pay for one tyre but this is falling on deaf ears. In the latest email they mentioned the steering. Whether this is an intimation that they could charge for that also, we cannot tell.

Given the terms of the contract and that my husband failed to check the condition of the vehicle (& spare) on collection, I am inclined to pay and put this down to experience but there is the principle of the matter that we're being charged for damage caused by others.

Do we have any rights at all in this case? Any advice would be appreciated.

Many thanks

Bavaria