Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency
The
Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (the
DVLA) is an
executive agency of the
Department for Transport in
Great Britain. It is responsible for maintaining a database of drivers and
vehicles in Great Britain, its counterpart in
Northern Ireland is
Driver and Vehicle Licensing Northern Ireland (DVLNI). The agency issues
driving licences, organises collection of
vehicle excise duty (also known as
road tax and
road fund license) and sells "cherished marks" (private number plates).
The DVLA is based in
Clase, which is located in
Swansea, south
Wales. It was previously known as the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Centre (DVLC).
Data held by DVLA is used in many ways. For example, by the DVLA itself, to identify "untaxed" vehicles, and also by outside agencies; cars caught entering central
London without paying the
congestion charge or driving too fast on a road with
speed cameras are matched to their owners using the DVLA database. In
2004 the DVLA made the vehicle database available to the private sector (and any person who can demonstrate a legitimate need for the data). This controversial move has been widely criticised in the UK press and in
parliament as being a threat to privacy.
The current DVLA database of vehicles was built by
EDS under a 5 million
pound contract signed in 1996, with a planned implementation date on October 1998, though actual implementation was delayed by a year. It uses a
client-server architecture and uses the
vehicle identification number, rather than the
registration plate, as the primary key to track vehicles, eliminating the possibility of having multiple registrations for a single vehicle, a scam known as
ghosting. However the accuracy of the data held remains a continuing problem.
The database of drivers, developed in conjunction with the
Police Information Technology Organisation and delivered in March 2002, enables the
police to verify drivers' licences via the
Police National Computer, and holds details of around 20 million photocard driving licences. This is an implementation of an
automatic number plate recognition system.
*
UK topics*
Pass Plus*http://www.dvla.gov.uk accessed 13 May 2006
*http://www.direct.gov.uk/motoring accessed 13 May 2006
*
DVLA runs into IT trouble accessed 13 May 2006
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Database to nail rogue drivers accessed 13 May 2006
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DVLA sells your details to criminals accessed 13 May 2006
