Name and shame is part of the game

High-flying EasyJet founder Stelios Haji-Ioannou has come up with an innovative way of stopping people stealing his rental cars…

High-flying EasyJet founder Stelios Haji-Ioannou has come up with an innovative way of stopping people stealing his rental cars from his car-hire company - he puts their mugshots on the Internet.

The man behind the EasyJet budget airline launched the new tactic to trace vehicles missing from his budget car rental business EasyCar.

When drivers pick up a car, their photograph is taken and, if they don't bring it back, the photo goes on the EasyCar website. They are also sent to police.

The scheme has already had its first result after a driver in Liverpool brought a Mercedes A-Class back two days after being named and shamed on the website. Cars must be 15 days overdue before the hirer joins the rogues' gallery, which currently has two other names on it.

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"These cars are expensive," says Haji-Ioannou, "and we have 6,000 of them. At any given time we're looking for as many as several tens which are overdue.

"If we don't get one back, it's a write-off."