2024 LoS Submissions

Are 1,000’s of stolen vehicles not recorded as such on the PNC or at the DVLA?

Abbreviations:

  • DVLA – The Driver & Vehicle Licensing Agency
  • LoS – Lost or Stolen
  • PNC – Police National Computer

Below is a comparison of vehicle* LoS (lost or stolen) submissions made by England & Wales constabularies to the Home Office records, which are believed to be Police National Computer (PNC) data, with the DVLA’s 2024 ‘stolen’ disclosure.

*all VEHICLES known to the DVLA, as opposed to simply CARS. Many of the DVLA’s 60+ vehicle categories are recorded here.

In 2024, for the calendar year, the DVLA received 95,589 ‘stolen’ notifications from 44 sources, constabularies. To compare the data with the Home Office records, which relate to England & Wales, the following have been excluded:

  • PSNI & Scottish constabularies.
  • The DVLA’s ‘not known’ constabulary category has been removed – the DVLA hold 1,415 such records for 2024.
  • The NCA (1 record) and NaVCIS (651 records) data have been removed – the H.O. Data does not include reference to these organisations.

The Home Office reports upon submissions in a financial year and received:

  • 2022/23 – 130,007
  • 2023/24 – 128,834
  • 2024/25 – 121,589

Due to differing submission periods (calendar & financial years), a direct comparison cannot be made. However, comparing the DVLA 2024 vehicle taking figure of 95,589, with an average of the above 3-year data (126,810), the Home Office was aware of 31,221 more ‘stolen’ notifications than were reported to the DVLA.

DVLA totals are 32.66% lower than the Home Office totals (DVLA-denominator framing) i.e., Home Office totals are ~24.6% higher than DVLA totals.

  • Why is the DVLA unaware of these 31,221 LoS records?

Comparing the DVLA’s 2024 statistics with the Home Office’s 2023/24 figures, the Home Office received 33,245 more notifications of theft than the DVLA.

  • Why do the figures not tally?
  • Why is the DVLA unaware of about 1/3rd of all vehicle theft allegations?

The data compared is as follows, with the per-force “% difference” table using the DVLA figure as the denominator:

ConstabularyDVLA 2024H.O. 2022/23H.O. 2023/24H.O. 2024/25H.O. averageH.O. Av’ less DVLA% differenceH.O. 23/24 less DVLA% difference
Avon & Somerset Police2,3122,6733,4023,1963,09077833.66%1,09047.15%
Bedford Police1,2351,4211,5781,5621,52028523.10%34327.77%
British Transport Police130543501539528398305.90%371285.38%
Cambridgeshire Police8891,3531,2991,2261,29340445.41%41046.12%
Cheshire Police7491,05995882894819926.61%20927.90%
City of London Police114830273524218.18%19172.73%
Cleveland Police3651,1641,1549051,074709194.34%789216.16%
Cumbria Police15430129529729814493.29%14191.56%
Derbyshire Police1,1331,7201,6831,4551,61948642.92%55048.54%
Devon & Cornwall Police7081,4191,3901,3161,37566794.21%68296.33%
Dorset Police6081,0031,0051,0901,03342569.85%39765.30%
Durham Police6701,0321,2321,0141,09342363.08%56283.88%
Dyfed Powys Police10914823325421210394.19%124113.76%
Essex Police4,2875,0705,8975,4735,4801,19327.83%1,61037.56%
Gloucestershire Police38051860362558220253.16%22358.68%
Greater Manchester Police4,7268,2436,7285,6166,8622,13645.20%2,00242.36%
Gwent Police3759401,1811,0321,051676180.27%806214.93%
Hampshire Police1,7163,1662,9622,4622,8631,14766.86%1,24672.61%
Hertfordshire Police1,8712,1092,2432,3812,24437319.95%37219.88%
Humberside Police9901,5331,3651,2831,39440440.77%37537.88%
Kent Police2,5163,3543,5873,5063,48296638.41%1,07142.57%
Lancashire Police1,7632,4922,3872,3512,41064736.70%62435.39%
Leicestershire Police1,5601,8732,0151,8541,91435422.69%45529.17%
Lincolnshire Police51784873076878226551.26%21341.20%
Merseyside Police1,0182,9082,4682,0932,4901,472144.56%1,450142.44%
Metropolitan Police Service27,46432,75032,78533,12132,8855,42119.74%5,32119.37%
Norfolk Police30856150964557226485.61%20165.26%
North Wales Police141402429424418277196.69%288204.26%
North Yorkshire Police59871177265771311519.29%17429.10%
Northamptonshire Police69899097794297027238.92%27939.97%
Northumbria Police1,1352,5412,2691,6472,1521,01789.63%1,13499.91%
Nottingham Police1,1702,0661,9701,8521,96379367.75%80068.38%
South Wales Police1,6691,8762,1382,3602,12545627.30%46928.10%
South Yorkshire Police3,4205,1905,0034,6314,9411,52144.48%1,58346.29%
Staffordshire Police2,0152,7372,3372,2862,45343821.75%32215.98%
Suffolk Police29546950450149119666.55%20970.85%
Surry Police1,2582,0061,9761,6841,88963150.13%71857.07%
Sussex Police1,5092,2092,3812,2752,28877951.65%87257.79%
Thames Valley Police2,6073,7283,8843,3443,6521,04540.08%1,27748.98%
Warwickshire Police1,1891,2071,0881,1481,148-41-3.48%-101-8.49%
West Mercia Police1,4771,3791,5751,5681,507302.05%986.64%
West Midlands Police12,84415,09214,56013,21414,2891,44511.25%1,71613.36%
West Yorkshire Police4,5696,6166,2295,5756,1401,57134.38%1,66036.33%
Wiltshire Police43153952256254111025.52%9121.11%