Can bailiffs get information from the DVLA about who a vehicle belongs to?

Bailiff companies and their trade associations have unsuccessfully lobbied Parliament to give bailiffs access to the DVLA vehicle database.

Bailiffs do not have access to search the DVLA vehicle database to get the name and address of the registered keeper from a vehicle registration number. That is reserved for the police, in that they call a Police National Computer, or "PNC" check.

Public authorities and local councils have limited access, where they can get the name and address of the registered keeper so they can apply for a warrant of control of an unpaid traffic debt.

Private parking companies can Purchase a Subscription giving limited access providing the name and address of the registered keeper from a vehicle Registration to pursue unpaid private parking tickets.

Bailiffs cannot search the DVLA vehicle database by a person’s name to see what vehicle registration numbers are registered to that person's name.

The only information bailiffs have about a vehicle is whether it has has a warrant of control for an unpaid traffic contravention debt issued against the registered keeper in the last 12-months. That information is held on a privately managed non-DVLA database created and shared by bailiff companies online and used in their ANPR-equipped vans crawling the streets looking for vehicles with unpaid traffic contravention debts.^[1]

If a police officer makes DVLA searches on the vehicle database for a bailiff, then the police officer commits an offence of abuse of a police privilege,^[2] and may be reported to the Association Against Abuse of Police Powers and Privileges.^[3]

^{[1] See Bailiffs and drive-by clamping and enforcement

[2] Section 21(1) of the Criminal Justice and Courts Act 2015

[3] See Association Against Abuse of Police Powers and Privileges}