Ask Honest John

Honest John Ask Honest John » I have written to the Transport Secretary to ask about the release of data by the DVLA.
What is life like with your car? Let us know and win £500 in John Lewis vouchers | No thanks

I have written to the Transport Secretary to ask about the release of data by the DVLA.

Letter from Julian Huppert, MP for Cambridge to reader PT of Cambridge):

"Thank you for writing to me and drawing my attention to the loophole which exists as a result of the Data Protection Act and which makes it possible to request keepership details from the DVLA for a small fee and if a “reasonable cause” can be provided. I apologise for the delay in responding to you; due to a clerical error your email was initially misfiled. The DVLA provides details of the circumstances under which it considers it reasonable to release details of www.dft.gov.uk/dvla/data/rc.aspx.

I can understand the concern that you have, and have now written to the Transport Secretary to ask for further details about this issue, including what the Government intends to do to rectify this situation."

Asked on 6 February 2012 by Julian Huppert, MP for Cambridge

Answered by Honest John
An independent appeals process is supposed to be set up, funded by the BPA before this section of the Protection of Freedoms Act comes into force in October. See: www.honestjohn.co.uk/faq/private-parking-penalties

The legality of the way the DVLA sells keeper details to private parking companies in contravention of the Data Protection Act has been called into question, because they are granted blanket access to keeper details. They are not required to provide “reasonable cause” in each case, and in fact errors occur that result in the totally “unreasonable” harassment of innocent individuals, especially where the registration of their car has been cloned. This was the subject of a Daily Telegraph investigation and was featured on BBC Watchdog on 29th March.
Similar questions
Regarding the possibility of the British Parking Association (BPA), or any other organisation, obtaining permission from the Government to have access to Automatic Number Plate Recognition, prompts me...
My wife was recently fined £60 for parking in Waitrose for 2.25 hours. I have no quibble with this. However the parking company (Europarks) stated that unless the fine was paid they would be able to access...
There has been correspondence in your column regarding demands for excess parking and other matters on private land, where the only way the company would know the car keeper’s name and address is from...