MPS Repatriation Information – not in a readily retrievable format

20/05/2024, a request of the MPS:

When a notified ‘stolen’ vehicle in the UK has been recovered abroad,
the fact of the recovery is likely to be returned to the relevant local
police force investigating the original theft. Each force will have its own
procedures for handling these notifications (source – Home Office).
I ask to be provided with the following:

  1. a copy of the information you hold about such a procedure (where
    the vehicle was reported stolen to the MPS) and the MPS
    department/contact associated.
  2. The number of notifications the MPS received* that a notified ‘stolen’
    vehicle in the UK has been recovered abroad since 01/01/2018, month
    on month, in Excel format with a line per VRM conveying the make,
    model and year of registration (characters 3 & 4 in the VRM), the
    country notifying the MPS they have the vehicle, the date of theft and
    date of repatriation (in the event this information is held and in a
    readily retrievable format).
    *I anticipate this will be from the country where the vehicle has been
    located.
  3. The advice received about post-Brexit procedures relating to a
    notified stolen vehicle in the UK recovered abroad and policy changes
    insofar as Brexit is concerned”.

The MPS did not respond until 16/09/2024.

For part 2, MPS cited section
12(1) and said it was unable to comply with that part of the request. It
also indicated that there was no meaningful advice it could provide on
how the complainant could refine part 2 of their request (“there is no
feasible way of reducing it to a manageable level”). For part 3, it said
MPS only maintains its reliance on section 23(5) in relation to “any other
information that may be held”.

MPS explained to the complainant that the information requested in part
2 isn’t held in a readily retrievable format. MPS said it would need to
search for details recorded in “a non-standardised manner” within the
free-text fields of individual records to provide the information requested
in part 2.

MPS told the complainant and the Commissioner that complying with
part 2 would involve checking many thousands of individual records.