The campaign was making novel use of Automatic Number Plate Recognition technology, but the big question is how Castrol has come by the data about the drivers held by Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency. The DVLA sells the data it holds on 34,000,000 drivers to a number of organisations. The article reports that sources admit that in this case the data was passed on from one of these to a third-party contractor who then themselves sold it in contravention of the ban on using registration numbers for marketing purposes:
Liberal Democrat transport spokesman Norman Baker said: ‘This completely inappropriate and unacceptable behaviour by the DVLA shows how cavalier it is with motorists’ information.
‘They don’t even check what the end use is. It seems all you have to do is ask and the DVLA will give, no matter who you are and for what purpose. It’s outrageous this was allowed to happen.’
The row is a fresh embarrassment for the DVLA and raises new questions about how highly sensitive drivers’ information is handled by the agency.
The Mail on Sunday has previously revealed that the agency was selling motorists’ names and home addresses to convicted criminals. In the past five years the DVLA has earned £15million from selling the names and addresses of more than six million motorists.
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