Cherished Number Plates News

DVLA releases all our details

14 October 2008

As of 2002, the authorities can hand over your car details to anyone who demonstrates ‘reasonable cause’.

The issue resurfaced last week, when a 24-year-old motorist received a demand from car park operators Parking Eye for £80 for overstaying the two-hour car parking limit at Lymm Services on the M6 in Cheshire. Her crime? Rather than drive whilst tired, she took a (too long) break in the near-empty car park just before 1am one morning, which has been recommended by road safety bodies.

The service is straightforward. For a flat fee of £2.50 (and reasonable cause) any individual can obtain details of the owner and their address for a given registration number. For £5, they receive additional details. For £3,000, large-scale users can be linked to the DVLA number plates database and download details (still at £2.50 a throw) in the privacy of their own office when ever they feel necessary. This has been claimed to be a huge invasion of privacy.

The DVLA is adamant that this scheme does not make money - the charge is merely there to cover admin costs of their processors…

The DVLA also points out that it has banned companies that have abused the scheme: 4 have been temporarily suspended in the last 18 months.

However despite these enforced restrictions and regulations, many remain opposed to the scheme.