Do I have a ‘right’ to know where companies have got my details from?

Altarf

Astaroth wrote:

But the requirement to protect the innocent is greater than the tiny risk of an axe murder deciding the DVLA is the route to pick up someones name and address because they happen to own an SLK.

As not everyone can afford legal expenses cover or is entitled to make a no win no fee claim then these people need to have a way to access justice.

I agree with you, I was just (probably badly) trying to point out that the DVLA's requirement for you to have 'reasonable cause' was silly as the bad guys are not going to tell the truth.

Either the DVLA should release the information to nobody at all (other than the police) or they release it to everyone, no questions asked. To pretend that they do some checks so they don't give your details to an axe murder is just silly.

Astaroth

But this would mean that insurance companies (probably the largest users of the DVLA system after the police) would have to pay the police £120+ each time they want to check a vehicles owner rather than the current £2.50. This would undoubtably lead to an increase in premiums and also an increase in cases where an insurer declares it is uneconomical to pursue the case against another party as "investigation" costs cannot be recovered from the at fault party.

I think it would also be questionable if the police would be able to give them out. After all they have a blanket agreement with insurance companies that as long as they pay the fee and the police investigation is over then the insurer gets a copy of the report without their reasons for needing it being investigated