DVLA still sell your data without checks as 30,000 requests a month bypass vetting system

The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) is still selling the names and addresses of motorists to wheel-clamping firms without carrying out checks on their background and credentials, despite a pledge by Ministers to introduce tougher controls.

Three years ago, the Government said more would be done to prevent data on car owners falling into the hands of rogue parking firms.

Action was promised after The Mail on Sunday disclosed that drivers' details were being sold by the DVLA for £2.50 a time to unlicensed operators and even to criminals imprisoned for extortion.

Scandal: Only one in 1,000 applications for information about drivers is turned down

The Department for Transport responded by bringing in fresh checks on about 80 companies entitled to receive information via a secure electronic link to the DVLA database of Britain's 38million motorists.

These involved a six-month probationary period for firms wishing to join the register, criminal-record checks on their directors and compulsory membership of an accredited industry organisation such as the British Parking Association.

Announcing the crackdown, the then Transport Minister Stephen Ladyman declared: 'Protecting the privacy and confidentiality of individuals is critical.'

Now, however, it has been revealed that personal details of hundreds of thousands of motorists continue to be sold to firms that have not undergone rigorous vetting procedures - simply because they make individual applications for the information, bypassing the vetting system.

Parking firms that apply for information by post are not obliged to undergo any of the security procedures that apply to operators seeking data via the email link.

All they have to do is fill in a form entitled Request For Information For Those Who Issue A Parking Charge Notice and send it back to the DVLA.

The one-page document, which can be downloaded without restriction from the internet, requires no criminal-record checks, referees or documentary evidence about the company's credentials.

The applicant is asked to give the registration number of a vehicle and then answer the questions: 'Why do you want the information?' and 'How are you going to use the information?'

The astounding number of requests made in this way suggests it is being widely used to avoid background checks.

Notorious wheel clamper Gordon Miller was able to obtain drivers' addresses from the DVLA

Figures obtained by Lib Dem transport spokesman Norman Baker show that 334,569 enquiries - about 20 per cent of the total - were made by this method in the past year.

Of these postal requests, only one in 1,000 was turned down on the grounds that the applicant had no right to receive the information.

In one month, not one such request was rejected out of 28,501 enquiries. The following month saw four out of 26,607 deemed unjustified.

In all, from October 2007 to September 2008, only 324 postal requests were rejected for failing to meet the 'reasonable cause' criteria. In addition, just one form can be used to submit requests for information on up to 15 drivers.

In the same 12-month period, 1.4million applications were made by firms - which had undergone the new security checks - using the password-controlled email link to the DVLA's headquarters in Swansea.

Ministers ordered an inquiry in 2005 after The Mail on Sunday revealed that two criminals, Darren Havell and Gordon Miller, had obtained drivers' details from the DVLA.

The men, who ran a wheel-clamping company in Portsmouth called Aquarius Security, deliberately trapped drivers by blocking them in with a van.

They also demanded a £300 fee to release cars. The pair were convicted of extortion, with Havell sentenced to three years in jail and Miller to four.

Astonishingly, they had been able to find out where a car owner lived simply by giving the DVLA a registration number.

Despite the Government's pledge to do more to prevent private information about motorists falling into the wrong hands, MPs, motoring organisations and privacy campaigners remain concerned.

The postal form that bypasses security checks

Parking enforcement on private land such as retail parks, hospitals and railway stations is an unregulated industry and it is difficult and expensive for motorists to challenge fines.

Campaigners are also angry that DVLA officials are not required to notify vehicle keepers when a request for their personal data has been made.

The latest statistics, released last week by junior Transport Minister Jim Fitzpatrick in response to questions from Mr Baker, refer only to applications from private companies and do not include those from the police, local authorities and other public bodies.

Mr Baker said last night: 'Despite all the campaigning and all the promises, it's clear that nothing much has changed.

'Companies with something to hide or that fall short of the standards required can get round the rules without difficulty.'

DVLA officials say the law obliges them to disclose drivers' names and addresses to parking operators, solicitors, banks, finance companies, petrol stations, bailiffs and private investigators.

Critics, however, claim the system is open to abuse and want the Information Commissioner, who supervises the data protection laws, to intervene.

The DVLA said the income it receives from selling names and addresses - about £15million in the past five years - is not profit and covers only the cost of running the operation.

It said: 'Unauthorised parking on private land is a widespread problem. The DVLA has to strike a balance, allowing fair enforcement but protecting motorists.'

A spokesman for Information Commissioner Richard Thomas said they would study The Mail on Sunday's story and would 'not hesitate to take further action if required'.

He added: 'If drivers have evidence that their information is being used inappropriately, they should complain to the Information Commissioner's Office.'