I thought it was time to launch a direct crusade against the car park vultures. I've sent the attached in an email to Philip Hammond, the Minister for Transport. When I realised that the DVLA are (presumably) making a mint out of this, I felt I had to make a stand.

"Dear Mr Hammond,

In your capacity as Secretary of State for Transport, I understand that you have responsibility for the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency. I am writing to express my concern at the actions of the DVLA in releasing details from the vehicle register to what are referred to on the direct.gov.uk website as, ‘car parking enforcement companies’. Certain of these companies use the DVLA to obtain details of vehicle owners in order to pursue them for parking charges. These charges are often completely speculative in nature and are presented in such a way as to make the addressee believe that they are some form of fine or other legally enforceable penalty. Thanks to the efforts of motoring journalists, such as the Daily Telegraph’s ‘Honest John’, I understand that these notices are no more than invitations to pay an amount by way of compensation for an alleged breach of contract. In most cases, any breach of contract would be de minimis with a negligible financial value.

"The direct.gov.uk website (http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Motoring/OwningAVehicle/AdviceOnKeepingYourVehicle/DG_180097) states that The DVLA can disclose information to public and private sector bodies who have reasonable cause for needing it. Disclosing information can help in many ways, from crime and fraud reduction to vehicle safety. This information is disclosed on the payment of a fee to the DVLA of £2.50. If the financial value of the alleged breach of contract is less than £2.50, the only reason why a ‘car parking enforcement company’ would pay the fee to the DVLA to obtain information about the vehicle is in order to issue a speculative invoice, for a much larger amount, which misleads the recipient into paying an amount which is not due and which no court would enforce. I do not believe that this could, in any sense, be regarded as ‘reasonable cause’.

This type of invoice is often described as a PCN in order to make the recipient believe that it is a legally enforceable Penalty Charge Notice of the type councils are entitled to issue. I have recently received a ‘PCN’ from a company called ‘ParkingEye Limited’, of Chorley, Lancashire. I attended a function In January, in connection with my work, at a retail park at Bristol Avonmeads. The function patronised a business on the site, and so I was clearly making legitimate use of the parking facilities, but the PCN, complete with images of my car, noted that my stay had exceeded the ‘Allowed’ time of 90 minutes. The notice I have received follows the form that I have seen referred to in newspaper articles, inflating the amount demanded if payment isn’t made and threatening legal action. Just to make the notice as threatening as possible, the notice suggests that the consequences of not paying ‘could’ be that ‘a bailiff will attend your address to remove goods’. This type of ‘business’ practice is, I am sure you will agree, totally abhorrent and preys on those who are ill-informed and who can ill afford to pay £50, £80 or more using thinly veiled threats of legal action that, in practice, courts would never sanction. The distress that this causes amongst recipients should not be underestimated.

"Last but not least, it causes a significant administrative burden on morally legitimate businesses such as car hire and car leasing operators who have to deal with these notices. Please will you advise me (under the Freedom of Information Act 200) how much the DVLA receive annually for their participation in this morally reprehensible ‘business’, which I view as barely indistinguishable from the criminal offence of obtaining money by deception? Could I also ask what steps you intend to take to ensure that ‘car parking enforcement companies’ are only able to issue invoices that reflect that financial loss arising from any parking infringement and that they should be required to make clear the legal standing of these notices, ie, a request for payment?

"I have copied this to the Members who represent the constituencies where ‘ParkingEye Limited’ has its PO Box and where the Bristol Avonmeads retail park is located for their comments. I have also copied the Under-Secretary of State, Department for Transport.

"Yours sincerely, DE"