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Vehicle Number Plates

Question for Department for Transport

UIN 13664, tabled on 27 October 2015

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how much revenue the DVLA has received from selling driver registration plate numbers to car parking companies in each of the last five years.

Answered on

4 November 2015

The table below shows the income received by the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) from processing requests for information from private parking management companies over the last five financial years. The DVLA sets fees to recover the cost of processing requests and does not make a profit from providing this information.


Year

Total Revenue

2010/11

£2,910,850

2011/12

£3,657,859

2012/13

£4,831,355

2013/14

£6,097,898

2014/15

£7,573,298

The DVLA releases vehicle keeper information to those who can show reasonable cause for receiving it. The following table shows the number of requests from private car parking management companies for vehicle keeper information processed via electronic links over the last five financial years.


Year

Electronic Requests

2010/11

1,178,034

2011/12

1,574,397

2012/13

1,897,572

2013/14

2,430,130

2014/15

3,083,276


The vast majority of requests for vehicle keeper information are made electronically but information can also be requested using a paper application form. However, these requests come from a range of customers including private car parking management companies and the figures are not broken down by customer type.


The DVLA meets regularly with the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) to discuss a range of issues, including the provision of information for private parking management. The ICO’s most recent audit resulted in a high assurance rating relating to the release of information from the DVLA’s vehicle record.