Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency
Freedom of Information
DVLA
Longview Road
Swansea
SA6 7JL
Mr John Anderson
[FOI #28500 email]
Email
[email address]
Website
www.direct.gov.uk/motoring
Your Ref
request-28500-8f129175
Our Ref
FOIR 1828/10
Date:
4 March 2010
Dear Mr Anderson
Request for Information
Thank you for your e-mail of 7 February, regarding a request for information from DVLA
relating to the release of information from the Agency’s vehicle database to Private Parking
Companies. We have been asked to deal with this request and am doing so under the terms of
the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA).
The information you requested, as well the relevant answers, is as follows:
1. “How many requests have been made to the DVLA from Private Parking Companies for
private information, i.e. name and address of car owners etc since the 1st of January 2009
to the 1st of January 2010”?
We should explain that vehicle keeper information requested by Car Parking Companies can
be obtained either by manual (application form) or electronic (direct access) means.
Information is held and recorded in relation to the number of applications dealt with by the
Agency received via the electronic link from Car Parking Companies and I can confirm that
the figure for 1 Jan 2009 to 1 Jan 2010 is 997,549.
We can confirm that there are no separate statistics kept for the amount of manual
applications dealt with by DVLA from Private Parking Companies. All such applications are
recorded on the vehicle enquiry database and against the record of the vehicle subject to the
enquiry. The enquiry database is accessed using the name of the company concerned.
Without the actual name of the company, DVLA would need to obtain a full print out of
every company that has requested information and manually determine which of those relate
to car parking companies. Alternatively, the Agency would need to interrogate every vehicle
record (of which there are in excess of 40 million) and manually establish which were subject
to enquiries then which of these were subject to enquiries by car parking companies.
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We should clarify that the Agency receives in excess of 380,000 manual paper fee-paying
enquiries per year from both private organisations and individuals. Section 12 of the FOIA
does not oblige the DVLA to comply with a request where the cost in determining whether
we hold the information, and locating, retrieving and extracting the information exceeds
£600. This represents the estimated cost of one person spending 3.5 days (or 24 hours) costs
at £25.00 per hour. This costing is set out in the Freedom of Information and Data Protection
(Appropriate Limit and Fees) Regulations 2004.
Even if you were to narrow your request to manual figures for one month only, it would still
require staff to manually interrogate the same number of applications or vehicle records to
extract the information you require and would exceed the appropriate cost limit of £600 as
previously described.
2. “How much in search fees has the DVLA received form the above companies in the same
time?”
Whilst DVLA holds the total income from all Vehicle Fee Paying Enquiries for January 2009
to December 2009 which is £5.4m, we do not hold separate financial data for revenue
received from requests made only by Car Parking Companies. We should emphasise that the
Agency is not able to make a profit from this. This figure represents costs recovered via the
fees and does not show any profit. DVLA cannot and does not sell personal information for
profit.
3. “As the information kept by the DVLA is primarily used for the prevention or detection of
crime and as parking on private land is a civil matter, please provide me with the list of
guidelines used by the DVLA for the disclosure of this private information”
This information is held. Please find attached at annex A, a copy of the guidelines DVLA
staff take into consideration when information is requested for vehicles parked on private
land.
DVLA has produced guidance for members of the public to understand how and when their
data may be used and how an application can be made. This information is publicly available
via the website at
http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Motoring/OwningAVehicle/AdviceOnKeepingYourVehicle/DG
_4022066. Information that is available in the public domain is exempt from disclosure by
virtue of section 21 of the FOIA.
4. “What security and vetting checks are used by the DVLA to ensure the employees
working in Private Parking Companies use this information in a responsible manner, for
example: threatening people whom the DVLA has supplied personal information with
court action, threatening bailiff action resulting in the harassment for money or
threatening to remove good from their homes”
DVLA has no authority to vet employees of private companies, regardless of the industry
they work in.
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However, a number of safeguards are in place to ensure the companies to which it may be
disclosed do not misuse data.
All private car parking companies that wish to access DVLA data have to be a member of a
DVLA accredited trade association (ATA) and operate in accordance with the ATA’s code of
practice. Currently, the only ATA for the parking industry is the British Parking Association
(BPA). To view the British Parking Association’s code, which covers, amongst other things,
requirements on how companies contact individual motorists, please visit
www.britishparking.co.uk.
All disclosures of information are subject to audit by DVLA personnel.
5. “As harassment is a criminal offence under The Protection from Harassment Act 1997,
what steps are the DVLA employing to ensure they are not supplying information which is
then used by a 3rd party to break the law”
As noted above, all private car parking companies who request information from DVLA must
be a member of an ATA and abide by it’s code of practice. Those who do not comply may
loose their membership and would automatically loose access to data.
In addition, DVLA will consider any evidence of inappropriate / criminal behaviour by a
company and, if appropriate, withdraw access to the data.
The Agency would be concerned if information were to be used for a purpose other than that
it was requested for. If this were to occur, DVLA would ask the Information Commissioner
to investigate the matter.
The information supplied to you continues to be protected by the Copyright, Designs and
Patents Act 1988. You are free to use it for your own purposes, including any non-
commercial research you are doing and for the purposes of news reporting. Any other re-use,
for example commercial publication, would require the permission of the copyright holder.
Most documents supplied by the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency will have been
produced by government officials and will be Crown Copyright. You can find details on the
arrangements for re-using Crown copyright on the Office of Public Sector Information
website at: http://www.opsi.gov.uk/click-use/index.htm.
If you are unhappy with the way the DVLA has handled your request, you may write to FOI
– D16, DVLA, Swansea, SA6 7JL or by e-mail for an internal review. The email address is
[DVLA request email]. Please remember to quote the reference above in future
communications.
If you are not content with the outcome of the internal review, you have the right to apply
directly to the Information Commissioner for a decision. The Information Commissioner can
be contacted at:
Information Commissioner’s Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
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Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF
Yours sincerely
Sent unsigned via e-mail
Yours sincerely
Freedom of Information
DVLA
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