British government seeks to control rental vehicles used for terror attacks

Ministers want to make it more difficult for terror groups to access vans for their activities

British authorities are looking to tighten up the restrictions on hire vehicles to make it easier to prevent terror plots

The British government is looking at measures that could prevent potential terrorists from renting vans and other substantial vehicles in the wake of the terror attacks this week in Barcleona.

The Sunday Telegraph has reported that British ministers have become so concerned about how easily people are using such vehicles in terror attacks that they want to make the process of renting them much more complicated and with greater checks and balances.

The government will demand that the companies that rent out the vehicles will need to hand over all the  details of people who rent out their vans, including names, addresses and financial details.

The attacks in Spain this week have focused concentration on the role of vehicles being used in attacks. Last week the Barcelona attackers had rented two vans before the Thursday atrocity – one which was used to run over pedestrians and another which was believed to have acted as a suspected getaway vehicle – to kill 13 people and leave almost 130 wounded.

The terrorists, who have been endorsed since the attack by ISISL, had also previously attempted to rent a truck for a bomb attack buthad not managed to get the vehicle then because they had the necessary paperwork to rent the van.

Toby Poston, director of external relations at BVRLA, told the Telegraph: “The industry is looking at ways to share data with the authorities in as real time as possible so it can be cross-referenced with counter-terrorism watch lists.”

A government spokesman said it was looking at “what more can be done to prevent the malicious use of hire vehicles.”