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A. It would be undignified to quibble over this. Instead, why not pretend to have got the wrong end of the stick? Email the couple to say you have booked a Fiat Punto — or whatever the cheapest available car is from that airport — and grandly offer that they be your guests and have lifts with you all week because your hostess is keen that you should be eco-friendly and only have one car. They will email back, Princess-and-the-Pea-style, to say that they too have already booked a car so why not cancel yours since theirs will be more comfortable? Your having set the precedent of not charging will mean they should not expect to charge you. But establish this as a certainty by emailing that you INSIST on filling up when the car runs out of petrol. This is unlikely to happen more than once within a week.
If you have a problem, write to Dear Mary, c/o The Spectator, 22 Old Queen Street, London SW1H 9HP.
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