Refer park fines to DVLA
Page 10
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
• Hauliers who receive demands for parking fines from Granada service stations are being urged to complain to the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency over its practice of supplying Granada with their names and addresses.
A spokesman for Granada has confirmed that the DVLA supplies the information which It uses to write to hauliers demanding payment for unpaid parking charges.
However, the assistant registrar at the Data Protection Registrar, Jonathan Bamford, says he has advised the DVLA that it should not be giving out this information for commercial purposes. "We would not regard the pursuit of civil debts under the Data Protection Act as inappropriate," he says. "Car parking is right on the margin of this but I have been told that the DVLA is looking again at the whole issue."
Bamford adds that hauliers should step up the pressure on the DVLA to change its practice.
The DVLA states that the information can be disclosed if the reason given satisfies "reasonable cause". However, it refuses to disclose how it interprets this phrase, which appears in the Data Protection Act.
• The question of whether the DVLA should give out hauliers'
details is the latest twist in a dispute over Granada's parking policy, which has been running for more than seven months.
If hauliers fail to pay for parking after the initial free two hours, Granada demands a £60 penalty charge and threatens court action if the payment is not made.
Ralph Davies International insists this charge cannot be legally justified. It has written to Granada's debt collector Close Credit Management outlining its concerns (CM19-25 Aug) but as CM went to press the matter was still unresolved.
• For DVLA customer enquiries contact: 01792 772134.