Have you seen the movie, The Terminal? At times today it felt like we were making the sequel, The Cannock Norton Canes Roadchef Services. You see, today we were stranded with a rental car that couldn’t driven and a rental car provider who couldn’t be reached.

Now, this post was going to be all about how hideous Hertz Rental Cars are; it was going to drip with venom-soaked words playing on the whole “Love Hertz” catchphrase. In fact, I will allow myself to indulge a little and say that if a company exists to provide a service (in this case a means of transport) and then that service ceases to work, then that company should be able to be contacted by the people who sought out and paid handsomely for their service, in order for the company to rectify the problem and send the holiday-makers on their merry way.

In short: HERTZ, HIRE SOME MORE PEOPLE TO ANSWER YOUR PHONES!!!

In he end, a high-powered Homestead Pow Wow was called and a plan of attack was drawn up. Sick of recorded messages, press two for this and three for that, and being put through to Nissan and the RAC and the AA and innumerable other organisations that had nothing to do with us, two of our throng hailed a cab for the nearest Hertz office to thump some tables.

Only, we found that in person Hertz really are lovable. They cared, and were embarrassed and apologetic, they squirmed with shame and discomfort at the thought of a family having to hole up for another day in the Cannock Norton Days Inn rather than undertaking their road trip to Norfolk.

Best of all, they fixed the problem.

No, we won’t see Norfolk this time round but, like Tom Hanks’ character in The Terminal, we’ve made lots of friends here during our stranding. We’ve also caught up on our blogs, spotted deer and foxes in the hotels backyard, had a bit of a day off  and celebrated in style when the new Homestead Mobile was produced.

Cannock Norton Canes Roadchef Services: You’re not such a bad place to be shipwrecked.