If I wanted to trace the driver (and address) from a reg, can that be done? The car is likely to be reg'd to a lease company so I need to go past just finding the owner.
All ideas welcome (well, legal ones)
Mike
I think you can pay for this information from the DVLA but you will need a legitimate reason for the request.
Martin
Oily uttered summat worrerz funny about:
Legally you have very little hope, the Police have enough trouble in the event of accidents and such like, for what should be a simple system can be a minefield.
I'd say whatever the reason either leave it to the police if it's a criminal matter or forget it. If it's a lease company they may only be able to tell you a company has it and not the driver, they are highly unlikely to disclose any information unless the police serve forms for relevant offences.
Lee D
I agree with Lee, I had a bus hit my truck and did a runner. Despite giving the Police the bus reg no., I got nowhere. I tried the DVLA, they made so many lame excuses and reasons for not giving the info out i gave up on them. I saw the bus a few days later with the marks on the side where it hit me and called the number, got the name of the company and asked where they were. I called in later that day and laid out my case!. Despite being shocked that one of his drivers would do such a thing and with passengers on-board he wouldn't help referring me to the police instead - huh! I said to the bus company the there should have been at least a tacho for that day or a name on the roster but they weren't interested saying that it was too much trouble soo my reply was "I'll wait at the end of the road tonight and run into one of your buses and we'll casually forget the whole thing ever happened then..." i never did though i reckon i should have. itcost me £400 for repairs.
Jock
They won't release the info to you, try turning it around, would you want them to release your name and address to someone who wrote down your number?. It would be a license for chavs to find the homes of people who can afford nice motors, and to find when they were empty... Greg
The DVLA will release registered keeper information to anyone who comes up with a valid reason for need it. Whether the OP's reason is valid as far as the DVLA are concerned I'm not sure.
In Switzerland you can buy a book in the equivalent of WH Smiths that has the name and address of the owner of every registered vehicle in the country!
Matt
Yes that's what it says on their web site, but what valid reason can you think of that a civilian can use that would override the fundamental problem that it's a gift for criminals to be able to find someone's address?. Only if there is some sort of law breaking involved, and then you would of course involve the authorities who would make the request not make it yourself.
Presumably they don't have a data protection act like ours, or chav scum abusing any systems they can for criminal gain, but almost every adult in Switzerland is also a reservist with a gun locked up at home so we're not talking about a similar society to ours 8-).
Greg
In message , snipped-for-privacy@ontheroad.com writes
Did you consider a claim against the company in the small claims court?
I didn't actually, i just put it against expenses and got it off of my tax bill. It meant though i lost a mornings work getting the parts fitted. I did however report the bus company for tacho infringements so a little consolation there
Jock
They will, and it used to be free, although there may be a fee now. If you have reason to find the driver of a vehicle, as say in an accident or because you sold it and it may have a defect etc, they will (and have, in my case) release the details. They sell them to everyone else anyway ;)
There's not only a fee now but the whole thing has been tightened up, what may have been the case in the past is not necessarily the case now.
That's the point, you have to have a very good reason.
Others have said in this thread that they could not get the name and address of a registered keeper just because they claimed to have been involved in an accident where said vehicle left the scene. It would be far too easy for the chavs to claim that in order to get the details for criminal purposes, you have to go through the police and even then they usually can't be arsed with such 'minor' crime.
Now that is a very specific situation, they know you sold the vehicle you are enquiring about so could indeed have some important info for the owner, though the obvious question would be why you didn't mention the defect when you sold it...
In what situation did they do it and was it recently?
Well they shouldn't!, I don't recall any tick box asking if they could sell on my details and without one they would be breaking the data protection act. Greg
It would be ncie if you could trace drivers. I saw someone speeding off as i walked towards my car yesterday and they had left me a nice dent in the passenger door! I had parked on my own at the far end of the car park too! magnetic car effect.
I reckon I did quite well to last a year since the respray before getting a door dent, but its still annoying.
||| They sell them to everyone else anyway ;) || || Well they shouldn't!, I don't recall any tick box asking if they || could sell on my details and without one they would be breaking the || data protection act. || Greg
They routinely sell addresses & names to wheel-clamping companies who need to trace "victims" - ISTR this was in the national press a few months ago. Also, the animal rights maniacs had a tame employee until recently who was giving them the names and addesses of vehicles seen following hunts etc, so they could find them at home and do whatever.
The DPA and the ticking of boxes are irrelevant. As we have seen from the Post Office business this last week, if there's money involved, the rights of you and me go out the window.
Well if it was in the national press then it's gospel isn't it 8-), personally I wouldn't need tracing if my car was clamped so i can't quite see the point, it sounds like an ideal tablod story which usually means it's made up!.
They do sell them to private parking firms so they can trace those who haven't payed their civil penalty notices, and other similar situations that the government considers legitimate, others disagree...
But that's completely different from a member of the public phoning up and saying they need to trace someone who left the scene, but don't want to involve the police for some reason, "so can you just tell us the name and address that goes with this plate, I promise not to go round and rob him, honest mate"
I think you've just given a good example of exactly why they don't hand out such info to just any one, and if they do then why did the animal rights people even need a tame employee?, this just proves the point that they have to use criminal means to get around the system which keeps our details confidential.
If your information has been illegally sold they make a complaint and get them prosecuted, they can be fined thousands for each case which must make a difference.
Greg
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