A leading body for the vehicle rental sector has called on the Government to support an industry-led compulsory national accreditation scheme to combat the threat of vehicle terrorism.
The British Vehicle Rental and Leasing Association (BVRLA), whose members are responsible for almost five million vehicles in the UK, has released a report in association with the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation on the threat.
A terrorist attack in Stockholm
The calls come after a wave of vehicle attacks in Europe over the last couple of years, including attacks on pededrians in London, France, Spain, Germany and Sweden.
BVRLA said 'the sector believes that these attacks pose a significant threat to its ability to provide customers with an affordable and convenient service'.
'Security services acknowledge that terrorists are increasingly relying on home-grown, ‘low-tech’, ‘lone-agent’ attacks against public spaces in the West. Many of these attacks have involved the use of rental vehicles as weapons, causing 14 deaths of innocent people and injuring many more during 2017 in the UK,' it noted.
Vehicles as weapons: a threat and policy assessment for the UK rental sector commissioned by the BVRLA outlines how the sector hopes to work with law enforcement organisations and policymakers from across government.
The BVRLA is asking government to:
- Support the idea of an industry-led compulsory national accreditation scheme that would require all vehicle rental businesses to meet minimum standards in terms of their counter-terrorism security practices and procedures. These should be accredited through existing industry-based structures.
- Support the sector’s work with the insurance sector to provide a fair and workable way of pooling the risk associated with vehicle as a weapon terror attacks
The association is also asking the rented vehicle sector to support:
- Increase the amount of counter-terrorism awareness training and guidance available to staff
- Proactively and visibly publicise support of the national counter-terrorism campaign, ACT (Action Counters Terrorism)
BVRLA chief executive Gerry Keaney said: 'Since 2017, the BVRLA and its members have continued to work closely, and more frequently with counter-terrorism police and policymakers. We are committed to working with different parts of government and law enforcement to debate and develop strategies to help detect and mitigate the risk from terrorism.
“Through effective collaboration, we will develop more effective ways of sharing information, embrace new security technology and will share best practice with other countries and industry sectors.'
There are around 15.5 million rental transactions every year in the UK.
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