More DVLA data requests – the truth behind the facts

The RAC Foundation’s figures don’t tell the whole story.

Car ownership and the number of vehicles on Britain’s roads are both rising rapidly, placing increasing demands on parking, and much of this occurs on private land due to the expansion of parking at hotels, restaurants, retail parks and supermarkets. To put this in context, if just half of the 35M vehicles on our roads moved once each day to somewhere else, that’s over 17M parking acts every day. Contrast this with up to 10M DVLA requests in one year, research that shows only 3 in 1000 drivers are sent a PCN when they use a camera-controlled car park and the reality that 4 out of 5 motorists never get a parking ticket in their lifetime.

Kelvin Reynolds, Director of Corporate and Public Affairs said: “There are millions of parking acts taking place every day, and the vast majority of us go about our daily lives because parking is managed fairly and responsibly. Effective parking management ensures everyone can access shops, leisure facilities, hospitals and supermarkets that might otherwise be congested and a free for all.’

“There are many reasons why the number of DVLA data requests can rise and this includes multiple requests for the same vehicle. There is growing evidence of persistent offenders showing that some motorists acquire multiple tickets, and many tickets are issued to cars without an MOT, TAX or Insurance: that’s the real problem.”

The BPA’s existing Code of Practice for operators managing parking on private land, developed with a range of stakeholders, including the RAC Foundation, already sets high standards for our members because we believe that’s the right thing to do. We are fully engaged with government in the delivery of the Parking (Code of Practice) Act 2019 which is set to enhance those standards even further, and that is good for everyone.