Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, on how many occasions the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) has (a) written to or contacted and (b) initiated legal proceedings against sellers of motor vehicles for failing to use form V5C/3 to notify DVLA of the transfer of a vehicle to a new owner in each of the last five years.

The registered keeper of a vehicle must notify the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) that they have disposed of it using the Vehicle Registration Certificate (V5C) or otherwise in writing.

If the keeper fails to do so and someone then applies to become the new keeper, the DVLA will issue an automatic enforcement letter.

The letter advises customers to pay an out of court settlement of £55 (or £35 if paid within 17 calendar days). If payment is not received a court summons will be served.

The table below shows the number of letters that the DVLA has issued for failure to notify disposal of a vehicle, the number of summonses served to attend court and the outcome:

Some summonses may not proceed to prosecution as they may be withdrawn following further consideration, such as obtaining additional information from the customer. The outcome of some prosecutions might not be determined until the following financial year from when the summons was served.