DVLA raised £24m selling driver details to private firms last year

Motorists expected to receive a record number of fines in the current financial year

DVLA income from personal data
Photo: Bigstock

Motorists received an estimated £2.61 billion in parking and traffic fines in the last financial year, an investigation has found.

A record 32.17 million requests for vehicle-keeper details were submitted to the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) in 2021/22, raising £23.9m for the government agency.

Carwow, which launched the investigation, says it expects £2.91bn worth of penalties to be issued in 2022/23.

The DVLA charges £2.50 to private companies every time they request vehicle-keeper details, but the service is free to local councils and other authorities. Registered private companies and public authorities can access the Keeper At Date Of Event (KADOE) database, which provides the name and address of a registered keeper on submission of a number plate.

Upon receipt of this information, private companies, local councils and other authorities can issue parking and traffic fines to drivers through the post.

‘Proxy for a driver’s sort code and bank-account number’

Carwow’s Hugo Griffiths told This is Money: “Drivers face a constant threat of fines and penalties over the course of day-to-day life, to the extent that a car’s number plate is no longer just a vehicle registration mark: it has become a proxy for a driver’s sort code and bank-account number.

“Nobody would suggest not enforcing road rules, and the DVLA is only doing its job by fulfilling requests for driver details. Nonetheless, a huge number of traffic restrictions and clean air zones have sprung up in recent years, while local councils were recently given new powers to enforce moving traffic offences.”

In response, a spokesperson for the DVLA said: “The fee charged for the release of keeper details is set to recover the cost of providing the information. This means that the cost is borne by those requesting the information and not passed onto the general taxpayer.”

While the income generated from KADOE requests has increased, there has also been a 71 percent surge in the number of times local and transport authorities have used the service from 2017/18 to 2021/22.

This is most likely due to a number of factors, including the rise in clean air zones, new low-traffic neighbourhoods and private parking restrictions. Many retail car parks are controlled by ANPR (Automatic Number Plate Recognition) cameras, which record a vehicle’s entry and exit times.

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