A. Request – 2504040 NaVCIS PNC LoS Submissions

A Freedom of Information Act request to the NPCC

04/04/2025

Dear National Police Chiefs’ Council,

In Excel format, an example of which can be found here: https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/

I ask to be provided, with a vehicle per row, the like information relating to the NPCC/NaVCIS submissions to the PNC LoS (Police national Computer, Lost or Stolen) register for the period: 01/01/2023 to 31/12/2023
01/01/2024 to 31/12/2023[4]

I do not know how you hold or submit LoS records. But these are placed to the PNC which then causes the records to pass to the DVLA. Assuming the information is held in a similar format to that of Essex constabulary, at the above link, I ask to be provided:

Created Date – ‘taken’ date
Vehicle Make
Vehicle Model
Recovered/Not Recovered
Vehicle age (characters 3 & 4 of VRM)
Vehicle Recovered Date
The vehicle value – as at the date of loss or the criteria you use for value*

I appreciate you have, in the past, kindly hand-held me regarding information geld in a readily available format. Should any of the above not fall to such categorisation, but similar, helpful (insofar as it will help me to understand the number and type of losses/recoveries) please withdraw items that would fall foul of s12 and substitute the data you do hold to hand.

Additionally:

Assuming this is recorded, the offence associated with the submission i.e. the reason for creating a ‘lost’ or ‘stolen’ entry which I assume will include obtained by fraud and, if possible, the type of fraud – such as impersonation, intentionally avoidance of repayments, coercion etc.

I am not seeking detail of the offence and possibly you have your own codes for these, your own categorisations – please provide.

Your criteria/policy for submission to PNC – the grounds for recording or not recording on PNC LoS

Whether the PNC entry is annotated to the effect the vehicle was obtained by fraud, as opposed to stolen, where this is the case

Your criteria/policy for seizure of vehicles placed to PNC LoS

For the above calendar years, the number of complaints you received – irrespective of whether the vehicle was placed to PNC LoS, the number of vehicles for which you received a complaint. To clarify, a complaint may relate to more than one vehicle and may be treated as a single investigation. However, I wish to know the number of vehicles reported.

*I am assuming, for accounting/funding purposes detailed information is held on a system, in a readily retrievable format.

22/04/2025 note:

LoS – Lost or Stolen
PNC – Police National Computer
VRM – Vehicle Registration Mark

A requester is not required to provide a motive for the request. However, toward the end of January 2025, vehicle theft statistics for 2023 and 2024 had been received and were analysed. Unlike many that seek vehicle theft numbers alone, the information acquired extended to:

date of theft (month)
constabulary
date of recovery
recovery condition – if deemed a total loss

Constabularies were doing well if they recovered 40% of stolen vehicles. Many were faring worse. NaVCIS, the National Vehicle Crime Intelligence Service, which explains ‘bridging the gap between policing and industry’, was achieving a much higher recovery rate. This raised a few issues, some of which the above request was designed to address …

Is NaVCIS investigating ‘STOLEN’ vehicles or those taken by FRAUD – should the NaVCIS vehicles be included in STOLEN statistics?
Were NaVCIS placing all those VRMs in which they have an interest on the PNC LoS register?
Is a PNC LoS entry annotated to explain to any officer encountering the VRM that the vehicle had been taken by FRAUD, as opposed to THEFT – there are potential title argument differences
Were online references to NaVCIS being associated with ‘theft by fraud’ offences misleading – there is no such offence.
NaVCIS had explained that they were no cost to the public purse – they were funded by private industry. But placing LoS markers to the PNC would surely involve others who stumbled across the vehicles
The NaVCIS model appears to be resulting in greater recoveries – should this approach be extended to more general policing or other areas of concern, for example, the taking of Rental Vehicles, that NaVCIS appears reluctant to assist without payment.
How does the funding information/model compare with the number of complaints NaVCIS receives (vehicles reported to them as having been taken)
What is the extent of the FLA issue such that Navcis is required, and in turn, could this be applied to other areas of taking allegations?

The request was deemed vexatious.

NEXT PAGE – Refusal

The Request & Refusal:

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