A lawyer has criticised the lack of security barriers before the London Bridge terror attack, saying pavements were left 'wide open' despite a similar atrocity months earlier.
Gareth Patterson QC, who is representing six families of victims of the June 2017 attack, set out his key concerns ahead of a full inquest at the Old Bailey starting on May 7.
He criticised the lack of barriers on the bridge when a terrorist trio rammed pedestrians in a van and went on a stabbing spree - three months after the Westminster attack in March.
He said: 'The pavements of London Bridge were wide open, despite what happened at Westminster.'
A lawyer has suggested not enough security measures were in place on the night of the London Bridge terror attack because pavements were 'wide open'. Pictured: A victim is loaded into an ambulance
Mr Patterson also said there was an 'apparent failure to have any sort of regulation or security checks by rental businesses where they are renting out powerful vehicles which can be used as lethal weapons'.
'We have had them used in terrorist attack after terrorist attack.'
Eight people were killed when three men ploughed into pedestrians in a white van on the bridge, before stabbing revellers in the nearby market with 12 inch blades on June 3 2017.
The victims were Canadian Christine Archibald, 30, Frenchmen Xavier Thomas, 45, and Alexandre Pigeard, 26, as well as Sara Zelenak, 21, Kirsty Boden, 28, Sebastien Belanger, 36, James McMullan, 32, and Ignacio Echeverria, 39.
Former customer service assistant at Transport for London, Khuram Butt, 27, and Rachid Redouane, 30, ran over victims in a white van before going on a stabbing spree
The attackers, Khuram Butt, 27, Rachid Redouane, 30, and Youssef Zaghba, 22, were shot dead by police at the scene.
The incident came just three months after Khalid
