Thanks. In reply I didn't touch the sales counter as I'm Avis preferred so went straight to the car as my name was on the board. Never had an issue doing this at other locations so assume there is another reason.

I've already spoken to Amex to suspend the transaction as £1k on the card is too much to ignore for me.

Its just unfortunate that CS are not open weekends and is obviously going to be harder to get through at the moment due to the strike issues.