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.
But does it matter whether the DVLA are notified of the PNC LoS register entry?
What does the PNC Manual say about confirming LoS reports? Read more here.
Incomplete Records
More about LoS records, the anomalies in recording and the lack of accurate, specific information can be found here: