Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to the DVLA guidance entitled Converting a vehicle into a motor caravan (motor home) updated on 27 August 2020, what estimate his Department has made of the number of vans that have been modified to be motor caravans but cannot be reclassified.

In the last three years, the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) has received 49,901 applications to change a vehicle’s body type to motor caravan, of which, 32,199 were approved. The body type descriptor held on the vehicle record must describe what a vehicle looks like in traffic. It is not linked to the use of the vehicle, its insurance cover or speed restrictions. The body type descriptor is used purely to provide the police and other enforcement agencies with a description of the vehicle being driven in traffic.

For those applications where the body type is unable to be changed to “motor caravan”, the vehicle can still be used for that purpose, provided any alterations made to the vehicle do not compromise its safety. The DVLA will allocate the most appropriate body type depending on the external appearance of the vehicle.