DVLA FOI Request

king100

I requested some information from the DVLA.

List all the companies who have demonstrated "reasonable cause" to obtain my personal details this would include name, address, telephone number and email address?

Basacially they asked me for my vehicle reg no.

You only show 55 companies on your website I require the full list?

The list is uptodate of companies that apply for vehicle data electronically. They have manual applications some 300,000.

I only have £600 for them to answer these question and it would need to be manually done.

Estimated cost one person spending 3.5 days @£25 per hour.

How do you vet these companies in relation to their data protection issues?

Load of b****** reply

Basically said in private car parking companies, the requirement for accredited trade associations membership is mandatory regardless off the means of requesting data.

How much did you receive in selling drivers personal details to companies who demonstarte "reasonable cause" in the last finincial year 09/10?

£5,5519,000 although they said no profit is made.

Are your agents who deal with "reasonable cause" copmpanies paud comission?

No

Am I entitled to a cut of £2.50?

Cost is to cover admin charges.

AlexisV

You did better than me. I asked them some questions and they hid behind the data being "commercially sensitive", so said it was exempt from FoI.

king100

MrCEO wrote: »

What exactly is your problem?
I am afraid there replies more than meet FOI.
Ultimately these companies claim to have legal cause for the data; questionably they do as the dispute about any breach of contract is between you; the TP and the courts not DVLA.

Of course it costs money to do this and hence the fee. Did you ask them what it costs to do these requests or did that not fit your one sided agenda?

I could quite easily produce a one sided argument that backed by case.

It may not be right though as it isnt unbiased.

My problem?

You have lost me I am not complaining about what they sent me. I sent off for info and they gave it to me. I was bored and decided to see if FOIA actually works they answered my questions.

The b****ks comment was basically I couldent be bothered to write the legal stuff they posted as it was half a page long.

The one question I would be inclined to ask is they state that "All companies that request and receive data are subject to audit by DVLA audit staff to ensure that requests are appropriate."

Would ask when the last audit was done and to whom?

I can understand the fee for manual requests but electronic requests that 55 companies are allowed to do does not cost £2.50.

What case are you talking about? One sided arguement? My one sided agenda?

!!!!!! are you talking about.

AlexisV

The issue is that they sell data to anybody. You don't need reasonable cause - they see any request as being reasonable because it is accompanied by £2.50. Why would anyone pay £2.50 if their request wasn't reasonable?

If you delve into this issue, they just respond that the reasons are commercially sensitive.

They even have a form: http://www.dft.gov.uk/dvla/forms/~/media/pdf/forms/v888x3.ashx

So, a 'Parking Charge Notice' is a reasonable cause for getting data even though they are legally unenforceable?

king100

AlexisV wrote: »

The issue is that they sell data to anybody. You don't need reasonable cause - they see any request as being reasonable because it is accompanied by £2.50. Why would anyone pay £2.50 if their request wasn't reasonable?

If you delve into this issue, they just respond that the reasons are commercially sensitive.

They even have a form: http://www.dft.gov.uk/dvla/forms/~/media/pdf/forms/v888x3.ashx

So, a 'Parking Charge Notice' is a reasonable cause for getting data even though they are legally unenforceable?

Maybe MrCEO runs a private parking firm or employs one to con the public with their invoices!!!

Coupon-mad

They say they only pass the info on to companies who are in the BPA (big deal, being a member of a club!) but what about those companies which then share that info with any old PPC who are not in the BPA?

It's known that all PPCs can easily get your private details from the DVLA whether they are BPA members or not, through a central point.

So the problem is, Mr CEO, that private unregulated scammers are being given name and address details as well as already having stored full details of the nice shiny expensive car(s). All they have to do is case the joint and...:mad:

Just a thought - what on earth gives the PPCs the right to write down & store car details anyway, and to share those details with a debt collector third party, under the DPA??

taffy056

Coupon-mad wrote: »

It's known that all PPCs can easily get your private details from the DVLA whether they are BPA members or not, through a central point.

And there was a post on here not to long ago where someone was contacted by a completely different PPC to the ticket issued, they had no connection to each other, so the info must have been passed from one PPC to another PPC without permission and against the DPA!

Coupon-mad wrote: »

Just a thought - what on earth gives the PPCs the right to write down & store car details anyway, and to share those details with a debt collector third party, under the DPA??

Yes passed onto a third party when there is no debt to chase, now that has got to be against the DPA, what right do these PPCs have to pass on sensitive information to other parties ?

TheBogsDollocks

Approximately 50% of London Borough councils use their parking contractor to contact DVLA for keeper details. This means that as the council are not contacting DVLA themselves but leaving it to contractors then these contractors must satisfy regulation 27(1)(e)

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2002/2742/regulation/27/made

They are meant to do this by presenting DVLA with a letter of authority from the council they represent. As made clear by the DfT in the operational guidance;

10.38 In order to issue an NtO, the enforcement authority will need to know the
name and address of the registered keeper of the vehicle at the time the
unpaid PCN was served. Authorities can get this information from DVLA.108
Parking contractors may approach DVLA direct for this information,
provided that each request is supported by a letter of authority from the
enforcement authority on whose behalf they are working. The letter must

never be dated more than three months before the request is made.

When I FOI'd the London Boroughs that use a contractor not a single Borough was able to confirm that any such letter of authority had ever been given to their contractors. In fact they had no clue what I was on about.

The question to be asked is how then are these contractors proving "reasonable cause" to the DVLA without any such letter or are the DVLA turning a blind eye.

Sadly I've not had the opportunity and time to take this up with the DVLA but if anyone here has time on their hands then why not dig a little deeper.

It could be that millions of PCN's, NTO's have been served without regulation 27(1)(e) being satisfied. If so are such fines lawful?

Coblcris

A most interesting observation !


With regard to the DVLA only recovering costs with the £2.50 fee one has to wonder about the same application for details being made by a council only costing the council 5p.

TheBogsDollocks

As far as I'm aware councils have access to the non fee paying section of the DVLA. This raises the question of what section do council parking contractors use to obtain keeper details. If they need to demonstrate "reasonable cause" with a letter of authority then it seems they should pay the £2.50 fee for each keeper record as they fall under reg 27(2).

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2002/2742/regulation/27/made

However, if parking contractors are obtaining keeper details via the non fee paying section then the legality of this should be looked into. It is common for parking contractors to charge a council 5p for each keeper record they obtain from DVLA. The fact they only charge the council 5p suggests that the parking contractor is not paying the £2.50 charge to DVLA as otherwise the parking contractor would be losing £2.45 on each record obtained.

The sale of this data to the council for 5p may be a breach of s.55 DPA 1998. In particular 55(1) and 55(4).

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1998/29/section/55

The clear DfT requirement for a letter of authority can only be to prove "reasonable cause" and this is only required to satisfy regulation 27(1)(e) linked to in my previous post. This suggests council parking contractors must pay the standard £2.50 fee and yet it seems that they clearly don't. In addition, when contractors get the keeper details they then charge the council 5P or so for each record transferred into the council's PCN processing database.

I'm convinced all is not above board at the DVLA.

TheBogsDollocks

The document linked indicates what the DVLa require from bodies seeking keeper details.

http://www.dft.gov.uk/dvla/data/relinfo/~/media/pdf/forms/Reasonable%20Cause%20Table/Reasonable%20Cause%20Table.ashx