What DVLA Makes Parking Firms Prove Before Handing Over Your Address for £2.50

• Private car park companies buy a keeper’s name and address from DVLA for £2.50 an enquiry, and only if they belong to a DVLA Accredited Trade Association.
• DVLA audits every company that asks for keeper data under reasons 8 to 26 of its October 2026 guidance, and can refuse all future requests from one that fails.
• Any keeper can ask DVLA for the personal data it holds on them free of charge under Article 15 of the UK GDPR, using form MIS1065.

A £2.50 Form Gets a Parking Firm Your Details, but Only After Proof

A private car park company that wants to know who owned a vehicle on a given day sends DVLA form V888/3 with a cheque or postal order for £2.50 per enquiry. DVLA’s October 2026 guidance, MIS546, titled “Giving people information from our vehicle record”, says what comes back: the name and address of the registered keeper on a specific date.

The company has conditions to meet first. Every private car parking management company must belong to a DVLA Accredited Trade Association (ATA) and follow that association’s code of practice. Where the company left a ticket on the vehicle, it has to show DVLA’s auditors that it made no enquiry until the time allowed to pay or appeal the charge had passed. It then keeps the evidence for each enquiry for at least 2 years and destroys the personal data once it has finished with it.

DVLA discloses the data for two jobs. The first is following up charges that went unpaid after a ticket was left on the vehicle. The second is issuing the charge to a motorist captured on ANPR or CCTV. In the second case the company must tell DVLA why it could not issue the charge at the time of the incident, and confirm that a ticketing or ANPR system is in place.

This is guidance rather than legislation, so nothing in it starts on a future date. The gov.uk page for MIS546 first went up on 1 March 2013 and shows 12 updates after that, the latest on 30 October 2026, when DVLA published the new English PDF. A Welsh update follows. The scale of what sits behind those £2.50 payments is set out in the earlier report on five parking firms’ DVLA requests.

What a Parking Company Must Tell DVLA With Each Request

MIS546 lists what the company supplies with every V888/3. It gives the registration number, the make and model of the vehicle, and the date and location of the incident. It names the ATA it belongs to. It adds its data protection registration number and its Companies House number, and proof of address if that differs from the one on Companies House or the ICO website. A signed and dated application is required, and DVLA asks for an email address, if the company has one, with each enquiry so the Vehicle Record Enquiry team can ask follow-up questions.

The evidence behind the form is heavier than the fee suggests. The company must hold a copy of the agreement between the landowner and the car parking company, confirm its ATA membership, and keep hardcopy evidence for each enquiry, such as photographs, copies of notices and tickets.

Debt recovery agents chasing a parking charge sit one step behind. DVLA states that the ticket must originally have been issued by an ATA member before the agent can make an enquiry. The agent uses form V888/2A at £2.50 per enquiry, and supplies the landowner agreement, a signed letter of authority from the parking company, and the same hardcopy evidence.

Landowners and estate managers who chase drivers for charges or damages in a similar manner to parking enforcement face the same ATA test. Sections 8 and 17 of the guidance say a company in that position must be a member of a relevant Accredited Trade Association and operate in line with its code of practice before data can be disclosed.

The test for individuals is different. A private individual who has a vehicle trespassing or persistently parking on their property pays £2.50 on form V888. DVLA wants an uncropped photograph showing the vehicle and its number plate, and rejects cropped pictures of the plate alone. A photograph judged inadequate means the application comes back. Someone hit in a minor incident that damaged their vehicle or property can also obtain the keeper’s name and address for £2.50, where they demonstrate what DVLA calls “reasonable cause”. DVLA asks for the police reference number, the insurance policy number, a photograph of the damage, any repair quote or invoice and details of any witness.

The Fee Ladder: Free, £2.50 and £5

The guidance runs to 26 types of enquirer and one section on audits, and the money follows a pattern. Your own personal data costs nothing. A request for the keeper on a specific date costs £2.50. Requests for vehicle history cost £5.

The free route is the subject access request. DVLA gives a copy of the personal data it holds about you on its driver and vehicle records under Article 15 of the UK GDPR, on form MIS1065, and describes the information as free.

The £5 band covers history. A current keeper who wants to know how many previous keepers a vehicle had, or which vehicle changes, such as a new engine, were recorded, encloses £5 per enquiry. The same fee applies to previous keeper details where the keeper can give evidence of why they are needed, with court proceedings as DVLA’s example. Mileage companies investigating suspected fraud, insurers checking for fraud, motor dealerships verifying a part exchange, solicitors confirming assets and executors of an estate all pay £5.

The £2.50 band covers the keeper on one date. Garages collecting payment for repairs, petrol stations recovering the cost of a drive off, manufacturers running a safety recall, finance companies and firms investigating fuel card misuse pay it, and so do parking companies. For parking companies the arithmetic is simple: 100 enquiries cost £250 and 1,000 cost £2,500.

In its 2026 to 2030 ambition paper, published on 19 October 2026, DVLA wrote: “We will be clear about when we provide data at no cost and when we apply fees”. The paper sets no new figures, and MIS546 is where the current ones sit.

How DVLA Audits the Companies and Why the Date Decides Whose Details Move

Section 27 of the guidance says DVLA, or agents acting for it, audit every company that makes an enquiry for reasons 8 to 26. That is 19 enquirer types, from trespass claims to fuel card investigations, and it includes every parking company and debt recovery agent. An audit takes place from DVLA offices or by a visit to the premises that received the data.

Auditors take samples of a company’s enquiries and check each can be traced with the reference number entered at the time. They discuss and check the company’s processes and procedures, its data protection registration, and the physical and IT security around the personal data it holds. The company needs a documented report linking the vehicle to the matter under investigation, and an audit trail showing each request meets DVLA’s criteria for release.

The auditors check the date of incident of each enquiry, and this is the part that reaches ordinary keepers. DVLA says: “Giving the right date of incident will make sure the correct keeper is given for that date.” A wrong date can hand over the details of someone no longer associated with the vehicle, which DVLA says can occur where there has been a change of keepership. DVLA states that such an enquiry can breach data protection law and will infringe that individual’s right to privacy.

The penalty for failing sits with DVLA. The guidance states: “DVLA could refuse all future requests for information permanently, or until you show that you have corrected your procedures.” If an audit raises several issues, a revisit can follow. For a parking firm that relies on keeper data to issue charges, that is the sanction on the table. The results of one recent check are in the report on the DVLA data audit of parking firms.

What to Do If a Parking Firm Has Your Details

Start with the dates. The date of incident decides which keeper DVLA names. Read the date and location on any charge notice and compare them with your own records of when the vehicle was yours.

If you sold a vehicle, tell DVLA when you no longer own it. The gov.uk online service changes the registered keeper and sends a log book to the new keeper, and the page says your vehicle tax is cancelled after you tell DVLA. DVLA’s own warning about wrong dates and changes of keepership is why the keeper record needs to show the right person from the day the car changes hands.

If you want to see what DVLA holds, make the free subject access request on form MIS1065. For the vehicle record, include your full name, your current address and the address on your V5C log book, the registration number, the make and model, and specifically what information you need, such as the date you bought the vehicle. If someone else makes the request for you, they must provide confirmation of your authority that includes your name and address, your relationship to them, confirmation that they are entitled to act for you, and your signature and date.

A paid history check is the other route. Form V888 with £5 per enquiry tells the current keeper how many previous keepers there were, and DVLA asks for the registration number, make and model, why you need the information and how it will be used.

Once a firm legitimately holds your name and address, the charge itself is the next question. The rules on what a firm can charge are covered in the report on the £100 cap on private parking charges. The MIS546 rulebook shows the other side: a company that cannot show its ATA membership, its evidence and its dates risks DVLA refusing its future requests.

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