 | ||||
Tracing Registered KeepersLocal authorities must accurately identify a vehicle and its owner before they can issue penalties for contravention of minor traffic laws. This is straightforward for UK-registered vehicles, but almost impossible for vehicles registered overseas.Most penalty charge notices issued to overseas vehicles go unpaid and are eventually written off because UK local authorities do not have mechanisms to trace registered keepers across borders. Currently their only mechanisms for collating owner data on non-UK vehicles are through residents’ permit schemes if they have them, at the car pound when vehicles are recovered by their owners, and via the specialist collection agency EPC which has agreements with vehicle registration authorities in a number of EU member states. None of these mechanisms provides the comprehensive access to overseas vehicle and driver data that local authorities need to trace owners of vehicles contravening UK parking and driving laws. The ideal solution would be an electronic network linking national licensing authorities – the DVLA and its European equivalents. Then local authority traffic enforcement teams would be able to key a request for vehicle and owner data into their local parking management system, electronically send it to the DVLA acting as the UK national contact point, and get a timely response back. Potentially this is possible through EU initiatives such as the Prum Convention, which includes automated searching of vehicle registration data; RESPER, a network for exchanging driving licence data; RISER, a pan-European address verification system; and EUCARIS, the European Car and driving licence Information System. However, the issue has become more difficult to resolve following legal advice from the Department of Transport to the DVLA. Advisers said it was beyond the remit of the DVLA to handle foreign vehicle data. This means that local authorities will be unable to establish automated links with vehicle databases in other European countries, even when those countries are willing to supply registration data. SPARKS ResponseIn January 2006 the SPARKS Programme wrote to licensing authorities in 27 European countries asking for clarity on release of registration data. Some have data protection issues, others are willing to supply data provided there is a single UK agency they can reach formal data sharing agreement with.SPARKS fed their responses into a House of Commons Transport Select Committee report published in June 2006. In the report the committee said: “In its response to this report the department should explain what action it will take to ensure that the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency is able to assist fully local authorities in pursuing civil enforcement action against owners of foreign-registered vehicles, particularly for those vehicles registered in other European countries.” |
Facts & Figures
New on the SiteSPARKS views debated in House of Commons |
|||
| ||||
