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Mr. Stevenson Our Ref: M&SDC227-08

22 September 2008

Dear Mr Stevenson,

I am replying to your request for information on “the number of cars driven in the UK with false/stolen number plates and without insurance in 2007”.

Information is not held centrally on the number of cars driven in the UK with false/stolen number plates and without insurance.

Information collected centrally by the Ministry of Justice on Court Proceedings does not separately identify offences involving the use of fraudulent vehicle registration marks from other fraud and forgery motoring offences.

However available information, held by the Ministry of Justice, shows that in England and Wales in 2006 (latest available) there were 353,481 proceedings at the magistrates' courts for the offence of “use of motor vehicle uninsured against third party risks”. In addition, there were 6,651 endorsable fixed penalty notices issued for the offence within the same period.

Information for the calendar year 2007 will not be available until later in the autumn of 2008.

For your interest, the Ministry of Justice annual Statistical Bulletin (MoJSB) on “Motoring Offences and Breath Test Statistics, England and Wales” and its in-depth accompanying volume “Offences relating to motor vehicles, England and Wales, Supplementary tables” is available on the Ministry of Justice website. The latest available data covers 2006.

A link to the publication is as follows:

http://www.justice.gov.uk/publications/motoringoffences.htm

Within Tables 6 and 11 of the publication `Offences relating to motor vehicles, England and Wales, 2006 Supplementary tables' you will find fines imposed at magistrates' courts and Crown Courts by offence group and amount.

Information on police action in Scotland and Northern Ireland are matters for the Scottish Government and the Northern Ireland Office respectively.

I hope that you find the information provided to you of interest, however, if you are dissatisfied with this response you may request an internal review of any aspect of our handling of your application by submitting your complaint to the following address:

Open Government Unit

Room 330 Abell House

John Islip Street

London SW1P 4LH

Or email: [email address]

Yours sincerely

Ransford Fiti

[Motoring Offences, England and Wales, Statistics and Analysis]

Ministry of Justice

Evidence and Analysis Unit

Office for Criminal Justice Reform

Fry Building, Ground Floor (NE Quarter)