DRIVERS of high-performance sports cars that have been hired to celebrate Eid will be targeted by police if they are driven in an anti-social way on Bradford’s roads.

The warning came from Superintendent Damien Miller as many people – particularly younger drivers – rent expensive cars for the duration of the religious festival.

The operation, which runs until Wednesday evening, was backed by the Council for Mosques in Bradford, a prominent road safety campaigner, and the owner of a car hire business.

Supt Miller said: “Over Eid we have an enhanced police operation. We want to make sure everyone celebrates in a sensible manner.

“We will take action against anyone we catch driving in an an anti-social manner.”

Officers have been out in Great Horton Road in the evenings, and will be again tonight, to police an area that has been and will be busy with parading cars.

The police ran a similar operation for Eid in July and seized 14 vehicles.

Mohammed Rafiq Sehgal, president of the Bradford Council for Mosques, said: “There should be an age limit for these cars to be hired out. And the drivers need to be responsible and sympathetic to other road-users.”

He added: “It is this image that boys want to create among themselves, to show that they are in power and they have something that is power. It is about showing off.”

Road safety campaigner Amjad Malik, who son was killed in a car crash involving a high-powered car two years ago yesterday, said: “There is a big issue regarding this. I think these cars should not be available to hire out.

“They are high-powered sports cars and we see a lot of them around. It is a big threat to the public.”

Naz Khan, of Naz’s Car Hire, said: “I am very careful as to who I give my cars to. I don’t like what happens with cars at Eid, so I am very careful for that reason. Hire companies should not give these supercars to people they don’t think are right. They are putting other people at risk.”

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