An 18-year-old woman says she was told she could not be shortlisted for a trainee estate agent role because her car was over 10 years old.
Employer’s car age rule bars Nottinghamshire teen from estate agency role
Alanah Thompson French, from Burton Joyce in Nottinghamshire, applied for a trainee lettings negotiator position at haart in Nottingham in December last year.
She said she was disqualified after declaring her 2014 Citroen C1 did not meet the company’s under-10-year vehicle requirement.
In a statement, haart said: “It’s extremely important that people who work for us use reliable vehicles for their own personal safety, particularly where they travel many miles each day and often work alone.”
Alanah currently works full-time in a coffee shop but had been hoping to launch a career in property.
She told the BBC that she bought her car in May for £2,800, with one previous owner and less than 40,000 miles on the clock, and had experienced no mechanical issues.
Alanah said: “It’s just a bit of a kick in the teeth because obviously when you’re applying for jobs, you’re applying for loads and loads of jobs and to get an email back saying that… I just don’t understand it. It doesn’t seem fair because how am I meant to afford a bigger and better car? And how am I meant to get insured on a bigger and better car?”
Her mother, Jenni French, added: “The labour market is really tough for young people. I think the more that they’re disadvantaged in terms of policies that start limiting their ability to show that they’ve got skills and knowledge and can do things, I think it makes it harder and harder. And if you don’t have that door opened early days for you, it just has a legacy as you go through life.”
Haart defended the policy, stating: “Evidence from motoring organisations shows that the likelihood of mechanical problems increases as vehicles get older. For that reason, and in line with many organisations that require staff to use their own cars for work purposes, our policy is that vehicles should normally be under 10 years old.”
Danielle Parsons, employment partner at Irwin Mitchell, was concerned the rule could disproportionately " exclude younger, less affluent, applicants from applying for this job, particularly as this is an entry level position applicants."
She said: "The response from haart doesn’t point to any alternatives to this sort of blanket ban."