Drew Stephenson

york

project manager

Swings and roundabouts for me on this one. The positive side is that if this reduces the number of uninsured and un-MOT'd (potentially unsafe) vehicles on the road then that will benefit all of us who do pay our premiums regularly as well as reducing the total number of cars on the road.
There are two bits that concern me: one is the holding of data for 5 years - this seems hugely excessive given that the vast majority of the data will be related to people who have committed no offence. What will happen with this data? How secure is it? How long before someone sells it to a company who will bombard you with offers of cut price parking in manchester etc?
The second bit that concerns me is around the quality of the data that they'll be using in the first place. I know that the DVLA have been improving this but i hear that it's still a long way from reliable...