How did Parking Eye get my personal details from the DVLA?

A couple of years ago I was working for a contractor serving Tesco. I turned up at a branch, parked, went to the security office and signed in with my name, car registration and employer details, did a day's work then signed out again and left. 10 days later I got a letter from Parking Eye accusing me of outstaying my welcome as a shopper and threatening a hefty penalty if I did it again.

Not wishing to sour the relationship between my employer and Tesco I did not complain, but I did write to then minister in charge of the DVLA to ask why my home address had been disclosed to Parking Eye when I was lawfully on the premises. The minister replied that all applications for private personal information were assessed on their merits before the information was released.

Asked on 18 August 2012 by AT, Skelmersdale

Answered by Honest John
'Reasonable Cause' to access your personal keepership details has been defined by the DVLA as membership of a recognised trade body. So basically all an outfit has to do is join the BPA and it can electronically access all your details held by the DVLA. If a government agency can so easily sell personal data without making proper checks about “reasonable cause”, then why should anyone ever be prosecuted for breaching the Data Protection Act?
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