Coventry City Council have decided not to allow people to electronically search the electoral register after fears the service was being abused.

Members of the public have been able to search the system to trace friends and relatives for a fee of £5 but the service has now been restricted after council staff became suspicious of some users’ motives.

The council’s Human Resources Policy Team took the decision at a meeting yesterday and the ban comes into effect immediately.

Denis Folkard of the City Secretary’s Department said that members of the public had contacted the council after being traced.

He said:

"A number of people were using the service for perfectly innocent reasons but there were some who gave us cause for concern. Their motives were less than benign.

"Our staff noticed this and brought it to our attention. We were worried about people being targeted so we decided to take action.

"People had to pay a £5 fee and then staff would search for a name. The register is, of course a public document and must remain so, but now it is in street order only so anyone wanting to trace an individual but with no idea of the address, would have to look through around 230,000 names."

Originally it was suggested that professional agents such as solicitors would use the service, but there was concern that people with dubious motives were employing solicitors to search for them.