DVLA will no longer give you information on previous owners.
Discussion
So.. having completed a V888 form asking for details of previous owners for our '66 Daimler, in order to build a history file for it, it transpires that the DVLA have changed their rules as published in an article from the Jaguar Enthusiasts Club (https://jec.org.uk/news/2017/dvla-history-information-change):
"This means that you can no longer obtain a copy of your car’s history from DVLA. We have taken this issue up with the Federation of British Historic Motor Vehicle Clubs who have sought clarification from DVLA as this obviously affects the whole historic car movement. DVLA have redefined ‘Reasonable Cause’ for accessing vehicle records, and the response from DVLA to the specific query from the FBHVC was that a request from the current registered keeper of a vehicle for details of previous registered keepers of that vehicle for the purpose of researching its history was NOT considered to be ‘reasonable cause’.
You can see what DVLA defines as ‘Reasonable Cause’ by looking at their website at www.gov.uk/request-information-from-dvla "
What a PITA..
"This means that you can no longer obtain a copy of your car’s history from DVLA. We have taken this issue up with the Federation of British Historic Motor Vehicle Clubs who have sought clarification from DVLA as this obviously affects the whole historic car movement. DVLA have redefined ‘Reasonable Cause’ for accessing vehicle records, and the response from DVLA to the specific query from the FBHVC was that a request from the current registered keeper of a vehicle for details of previous registered keepers of that vehicle for the purpose of researching its history was NOT considered to be ‘reasonable cause’.
You can see what DVLA defines as ‘Reasonable Cause’ by looking at their website at www.gov.uk/request-information-from-dvla "
What a PITA..
As far as I can make out the new policy was drafted in July, actioned from 05th September and published on September 14th (the same day as the "Government's reply to the consultation process on VHI")
It is a huge shame as our civil servants who are guardians of this information have not been the best at accurately keeping the information and no doubt in due course will start deleting huge swathes of history!
The reason for this; we don't fully fully comply with an EU directive which will surpass our 1998 Data Protection Act, so this law is being updated - Marvellous!
Link here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploa...
Rgds
It is a huge shame as our civil servants who are guardians of this information have not been the best at accurately keeping the information and no doubt in due course will start deleting huge swathes of history!
The reason for this; we don't fully fully comply with an EU directive which will surpass our 1998 Data Protection Act, so this law is being updated - Marvellous!
Link here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploa...
Rgds
They are probably getting ready for the GDPR / DPB which becomes active in May 2018. They likely don't have the consent of the previous owners to hand out personal information to a random member of the public who just happens to own the car now. Makes sense ... they are being forced to do it by the new law, they don't have a choice.
evil len said:
They are probably getting ready for the GDPR / DPB which becomes active in May 2018. They likely don't have the consent of the previous owners to hand out personal information to a random member of the public who just happens to own the car now. Makes sense ... they are being forced to do it by the new law, they don't have a choice.
I agree it is most likely to do with this Moikey Fortune said:
evil len said:
They are probably getting ready for the GDPR / DPB which becomes active in May 2018. They likely don't have the consent of the previous owners to hand out personal information to a random member of the public who just happens to own the car now. Makes sense ... they are being forced to do it by the new law, they don't have a choice.
I agree it is most likely to do with this Still a PITA though.. I wonder what, as a private individual, would constitute 'reasonable cause' to seek the info on your own vehicle..?
Strugs said:
^^Yes, this..^^
Still a PITA though.. I wonder what, as a private individual, would constitute 'reasonable cause' to seek the info on your own vehicle..?
It's not the vehicle details that are the problem, it is the personal details of the keepers...Still a PITA though.. I wonder what, as a private individual, would constitute 'reasonable cause' to seek the info on your own vehicle..?
That's why you can get all the gory detail of a vehicles MOT history trivially, because there are no personal details involved.
To be honest, I'm slightly surprised the keeper info has been available recently - I'd have expected the Data Protection Act to apply to the DVLA!
Gojira said:
Strugs said:
^^Yes, this..^^
Still a PITA though.. I wonder what, as a private individual, would constitute 'reasonable cause' to seek the info on your own vehicle..?
It's not the vehicle details that are the problem, it is the personal details of the keepers...Still a PITA though.. I wonder what, as a private individual, would constitute 'reasonable cause' to seek the info on your own vehicle..?
That's why you can get all the gory detail of a vehicles MOT history trivially, because there are no personal details involved.
To be honest, I'm slightly surprised the keeper info has been available recently - I'd have expected the Data Protection Act to apply to the DVLA!
I am not really sure if the DVLA certainly with regard to historic records is obliged to withhold the information, it can make a statement as it does regarding 'reasonable cause' however in the outside world we all have access to individual records as found in the genealogical research, military record research via the National Archives.
So why should the DVLA be so precious in refusing to divulge historic vehicles which under it's own system are defined as 'historic', perhaps a move should be for the DVLA to transfer the records it holds prior to a certain date to National Archives, who can then act as guardian of historic ownership records.
I do not live in the UK, however under my Government archive scheme all paper records prior to a certain date are now held by our national archive service, where we can access research the original hand written ledgers, and index cards introduced in the 1950's. The only rule being is that information from within the last thirty years cannot be divulged unless it is to person for whom the data is stored.
Current personal data is covered by legislation, however data held which is being used for historic research should be managed in a different way, I am surprised that none of the UK bodies such as the FHBVC have not made representations to the DVLA, or perhaps they have ?
I am researching a 3 litre Bentley for which I have an ownership gap in the 1960's so the a copy of the DVLA registration records would have provided the information required, I cannot believe that will not provide historic information to a registered owner for the purposes of historic research.
So why should the DVLA be so precious in refusing to divulge historic vehicles which under it's own system are defined as 'historic', perhaps a move should be for the DVLA to transfer the records it holds prior to a certain date to National Archives, who can then act as guardian of historic ownership records.
I do not live in the UK, however under my Government archive scheme all paper records prior to a certain date are now held by our national archive service, where we can access research the original hand written ledgers, and index cards introduced in the 1950's. The only rule being is that information from within the last thirty years cannot be divulged unless it is to person for whom the data is stored.
Current personal data is covered by legislation, however data held which is being used for historic research should be managed in a different way, I am surprised that none of the UK bodies such as the FHBVC have not made representations to the DVLA, or perhaps they have ?
I am researching a 3 litre Bentley for which I have an ownership gap in the 1960's so the a copy of the DVLA registration records would have provided the information required, I cannot believe that will not provide historic information to a registered owner for the purposes of historic research.
I suspect a lot of the issue is similar to that of the previous Data Protection Act - people aren't entirely sure what information they are allowed to share and what information they are not, so they choose the easiest path which is to share none at all. It shouldn't be unreasonable to expect that a government department might be in a position to obtain the correct information though.
I don't disagree that it seems over the top to suddenly stop providing history to the current keeper and it must be very disappointing for those who have been trying to get around to sending the form off, and now find that they can't. Mind, I was disappointed that they started charging - mine were done prior to that. I'm not sure how adding another record-keeper into the mix would make things simpler, the first argument would be about what year to use as the cut-off.
David-x54px said:
I am researching a 3 litre Bentley for which I have an ownership gap in the 1960's so the a copy of the DVLA registration records would have provided the information required, I cannot believe that will not provide historic information to a registered owner for the purposes of historic research.
Even with the previous rules, though, unless you're the registered keeper in the eyes of the DVLA, then it would have been a miracle if they'd been prepared to let you have the historical information. I don't disagree that it seems over the top to suddenly stop providing history to the current keeper and it must be very disappointing for those who have been trying to get around to sending the form off, and now find that they can't. Mind, I was disappointed that they started charging - mine were done prior to that. I'm not sure how adding another record-keeper into the mix would make things simpler, the first argument would be about what year to use as the cut-off.
Edited by droopsnoot on Friday 2nd March 13:02
David-x54px said:
So why should the DVLA be so precious in refusing to divulge historic vehicles which under it's own system are defined as 'historic'
It's not that they are 'precious', it's that fairly soon they wont be able to by law ... they won't have a lawful basis under which they can hand out data subject's personally identifiable information (as above ... GDPR)evil len said:
David-x54px said:
So why should the DVLA be so precious in refusing to divulge historic vehicles which under it's own system are defined as 'historic'
It's not that they are 'precious', it's that fairly soon they wont be able to by law ... they won't have a lawful basis under which they can hand out data subject's personally identifiable information (as above ... GDPR)Gassing Station | Classic Cars and Yesterday's Heroes | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff