DVLA ‘stolen’ data conveys a record of ‘Lost or Stolen’ (LoS) reports transferred from the Police National Computer (PNC).
Not every police LoS allegation/record reaches the DVLA.
Some of the reasons for this are as follows:
The DVLA receives a file daily, Monday to Friday, from the Police National Computer’s Lost or Stolen (LoS)
Register of stolen or recovered vehicles. This file is processed via an overnight batch run.
- Recovered Before the Theft is Reported, for example:
10 am Monday, a vehicle is left locked secured and unattended. 3 hours later:
1 pm Monday, the vehicle is taken without authority. An hour later:
2 pm Monday, the police give chase to the vehicle which comes to a stop, and the occupants decamp. A PNC check of the vehicle reveals nothing untoward, but a call is made to the vehicle’s keeper. Half an hour later:
2:30 pm Monday, the keeper is contacted by the police, checks where they theft the vehicle – which is no longer present.
The crime of taking is recorded, but there is no point in adding the VRM to the PNC LoS register; it has been found. The LoS annotation on the PNC would need to be removed immediately if added.
- Recovered before the LoS entry reaches the DVLA, for example:
10 am Monday, a vehicle is left locked, secured and unattended. 3 hours later:
1 pm Monday, the vehicle is taken without authority. An hour later:
2 pm Monday, the owner notices their vehicle is missing; it has been taken without consent. 15 minutes later:
2:15 pm Monday, the police add the VRM to the PNC LoS register
4 pm Monday, the police find the vehicle
4:30 pm, the police, having recovered the vehicle, remove the PNC LoS marker from the VRM
The transfer of LoS data to the DVLA occurs in an ‘overnight run’ i.e. after 4:30pm. Therefore, the PNC LoS entry has gone on and off the register bfore the data transfer.
The transfer of PNC LoS markers to the DVLA does not occur in real-time.
Note: the overnight processing occurs on weekdays. Therefore, a PNC LoS register entry that occurs AFTER the Friday overnight batch run will not transfer to the DVLA until Monday’s overnight batch run i.e. for most of Saturday, all of Sunday and much of Monday (almost 72 hours/3 days) the DVLA will be unaware of the VRM’s LoS status.
• Recovered Before the LoS is ‘Confirmed’
11pm Friday, a vehicle is left locked secured and unattended. 3 hours later:
2am Saturday, the vehicle is taken without authority, the owner is awoken, notes the activity and reports the taking without consent. 15 minutes later:
2:15am Saturday, the police add the VRM to the PNC LoS register
The vehicle is not found.
The LoS marker is present on the PNC but the DVLA has not been updated. The LoS status is not conveyed to the DVLA because the police have not ‘confirmed‘ the crime – see ‘confirming LoS reports’ (below).
The crime should be confirmed within 48 hours of reporting. However, if the vehicle is found within its period and removed from the PNC LoS register, no data will be sent to the DVLA – as per ‘Recovered before the LoS entry reaches the DVLA’ (above).
After 2 weeks, if the police have not confirmed the crime, they are sent a reminder i.e this occurs – it could be a fortnight before the DVLA are notified of the LoS status. In the interim the vehicle could be found, the PNC LoS marker removed and the DVLA would be none the wiser about the ‘taking’ history.
After 6 weeks the report will be deleted if not confirmed. I have encountered occasions when vehicles taken without authority have been overlooked by the police, not confirmed within 6 weeks – during which time, if found, the status would never reach the DVLA.
Some unrecovered vehicles have been weeded at 6 weeks – they are removed from the PNC LoS register due to police oversight; a failure to ‘confirm’ the crime. No longer on the PNC LoS register, they never transfer to the DVLA.
But does it matter whether the DVLA are notified of the PNC LoS register entry?
“The DVLA does not automatically share any further information with the police about a vehicle record once a LoS marker has been applied.” 29/01/2026 FoIA response
‘Confirming’ LoS Reports
Police National Computer (PNC) User Manual version 21.01
9.4. Confirmation of LOS Reports
It is important that a LOS report is confirmed within 48 hours of the time of report of theft, because until the report is confirmed the DVLA at Swansea are not notified of the theft.
Any activity on the DVLA record of the vehicle in question would not be referred to the police for investigation during this time.
However, Experian, HPI, Retainagroup, Vehicle Information Services, NaVCIS and Interpol are informed of unconfirmed reports.
9.5. Reminders and Weeding of Unconfirmed LOS reports
For an unconfirmed LOS report, PNC Operations will issue a reminder 2 weeks after the date of the online entry and the report will be deleted after 6 weeks if not confirmed.
9.6. Reminders and Weeding of Confirmed LOS reports
After a LOS report has been confirmed, the entry will remain on the application for 6 years from the date of the original input, unless the vehicle is recovered. After this time the report is deleted.
Forces are notified of impending deletion one month in advance. If a force wishes the entry to remain on the system beyond this period, a fresh entry of the original details is required. It is recommended that this is done selectively, rather than routinely for all vehicles, following a review of the individual circumstances.
9.7. DVLA Actions
When PNC notifies the DVLA of the theft of a vehicle (confirmed LOS reports only) the Force/Station Code of the owner of the LOS report is included in the notification.
Any subsequent licensing or change of keeper transaction for that vehicle will result in a Report for Further Action (RFA – forms CL07 and VQ13) being sent
by the DVLA to the force owning the report, for investigation.
Incomplete Records
More about LoS records, the anomalies in recording and the lack of accurate, specific information can be found here: