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Private parking firms ‘paying £16m to DVLA for driver details’

The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency is set to rake in £16 million from private parking firms requesting driver details, a new report suggests.

Data published by the agency (DVLA) and analysed by motoring magazine Auto Express reveals that 3.2 million details were issued to private firms in the first half of the 2018/19 financial year – a rise of half a million on the same period the previous year – suggesting that the total could reach 6.4m by the end of the fiscal year on April 5.

Companies must pay £2.50 for each request to cover the DVLA’s cost of providing the information. That means £8m has been spent so far by private parking firms on requests for details.

The DVLA did not disclose exactly what information is given to the firms but it did state to Auto Express that ‘it takes its responsibility to protect information extremely seriously and has robust safeguards in place to ensure data is used correctly’.

On Friday, the Parking (Code of Practice) Bill reaches its final stages in the House of Commons before being looked at by the House of Lords. If passed, it will create a single set of rules for private parking firms signed up to trade associations, with companies not abiding by the code banned from accessing information from the DVLA.