Christopher Leake reports:
The Government’s controversial Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency has launched an investigation into how the car registrations of millions of motorists were sold for use by a giant oil firm.
Castrol spent hundreds of thousands of pounds on a campaign promoting its oils, using giant advertising billboards on five major routes in London.
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Roadside cameras recorded number plates before flashing their registration on to screens and revealing the grade of oil recommended for use in the car’s engine.
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The DVLA says it restricts the release of data chiefly to car parking enforcement companies, solicitors, finance firms and property companies – but insists that in every case the privacy of motorists is ‘properly safeguarded’.
However, the agency does sell data, including the registration number, engine size, year, make and model of individual cars, to a number of organisations, including five motor industry data providers.
This is used to ensure garages fit vehicles with the correct tyres, batteries and replacement parts. But sources have admitted that in the Castrol campaign, the DVLA data was passed on by one of the five companies to a third-party contractor, which then used it in contravention of the ban on the use of registration numbers for marketing purposes.
Read more in The Mail.
Image Credit: The Mail