Vehicle rental sector supports new ACT campaign

The BVRLA is supporting the new national ACT campaign to help raise awareness of the different methods of terrorist attacks. Following an increase of terrorist attacks last year where rental vehicles were used as ramming weapons in the UK and around the world, the BVRLA has been working with the government to identify and agree tactics to counter the terrorist risk, especially within the vehicle rental sector. In June last year, a van struck a number of pedestrians on London Bridge before the driver and two other attackers crashed the vehicle, and stabbed members of the public at the nearby Borough Market, causing eight deaths and 48 serious injuries. In March, five people were killed in a combined vehicle and knife attack at Westminster. In both cases, the van was hired for the attack. Nora Leggett, director of Member Services, said: “Having recently been accredited by the National Counter Terrorism Security Office (NaCTSO), the BVRLA is now delivering ‘Project Griffin’, specialist counter-terrorism awareness training, free of charge to both members and non-members operating in our sector. “Designed for businesses, this training has been developed to increase vigilance and provide guidance as to how to better protect their community, customers and staff. This forms part of a wider programme of work that we are undertaking to further mitigate the risk from terrorism and we continue to work with government to see what more we can do together to help protect our sector and our communities.”