Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps she is taking to tackle (a) fraudulent V62 applications and (b) car cloning.

The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) has robust measures in place to help prevent fraudulent V62 applications being processed. When a V62 application is received for a vehicle for which there is already a registered keeper on record, the DVLA will write to the current keeper to check if they still have the vehicle. If the registered keeper confirms that they are still in possession of the vehicle, the V62 application will not be processed, no new vehicle registration certificate will be issued and further investigations will be made.

The law requires that anyone who supplies number plates for road use in the UK must be registered with the DVLA. It is a legal requirement for suppliers to carry out checks to ensure that number plates are only sold to those who can prove they are entitled to the registration number. Number plate suppliers must also keep records of the plates they have supplied.

The DVLA is currently working with the National Police Chiefs’ Council and other government departments on ways to improve the identification and enforcement of number plate crime.