Public authorities have been banned from a the DVLA’s database of motorists for not using it correctly a Freedom of Information request has revealed. 

The figures are revealed amid fears that journalists may have used authorities to access information about individuals but the data released does not show if this was the case or not.

The BBC report:

Hundreds of local authorities have been banned from accessing the Driver Vehicle and Licensing Agency (DVLA) database for not using it properly.

Councils trawl the database of every registered driver in the UK to find the addresses of motorists refusing to pay parking fines, among other things.

But the DVLA regularly checks for security and other breaches.

It has temporarily banned 294 bodies since 2009, including local councils, Sussex Police and Transport for London.

You can read the full story here. 

I am a journalist and author. I am a journalist at the UK edition of WIRED magazine. In 2015, my first book Freedom of Information: A Practical Guide for UK Journalists, was published. My second book Reed Hastings: Building Netflix, was published in March 2020. I created FOI Directory in 2012 and have maintained it in my spare time ever since.