Sneaky South-Westerner Miles Savoury shamelessly resorted to sham and subterfuge in his lust to secure a coveted set of custom plates (nothing innocent like M1 LES or V14 GRA, in case that’s what you’re thinking, but the distinctly sinister sounding W1 DOW).
Bristol-based Savoury, boss of dodgy-sounding Accident Claims Handlers Limited, cynically abused the DVLA’s database to locate the owner of said plates, which he hoped to buy.
In pursuit of this dastardly design, Mr Savoury (Mr Unsavoury, more like) concocted an entirely fictitious incident in which he claimed the driver of a vehicle with the aforementioned W1 DOW plates had struck another car in the Bristol area.
In all innocence, the DVLA duly furnished the unsavoury Mr Slavery with the owner’s name and address, to whit: Mr Name Withheld, Huddersfield Address, UK, to whom Savoury sent a letter offering cash for his coveted plates.
Affronted and insulted, the Huddersfield man (who was certain he had never been to Bristol in his entire life, and doubted he had ever even known that such a place existed) smelled a rat and, having satisfied that unusual craving, contacted the DVLA demanding to know how Savoury had got hold of his details.
After receiving confirmation from the police that ANPR evidence confirmed the non-presence of W1 DOW in the South West on the day of the alleged incident, the DVLA referred the matter to the Office of Her Majesty’s Commissioner of Information (ICO).
Long story short, Savoury fessed up to breaching Section 55 of the Data Protection Act 1998 by unlawfully obtaining personal data, was fined a whopping £335 and ordered to pay £364.08 costs plus a victim surcharge of £33.
Hopefully that will teach him a lesson.
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