Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many classic vehicles have had their V5 documents rescinded by the DVLA; and whether his Department has plans to take steps in response to that matter.

The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) does not rescind vehicle registration certificates. The owners of some classic vehicles who may be unable to provide evidence of the vehicle’s history may not be allocated the vehicle registration number being requested.

Information about the number of these vehicles is not held and could only be provided at disproportionate cost. A scan of the DVLA’s vehicle register and subsequent manual interrogation of each vehicle record would be necessary to obtain the information requested.

The DVLA regularly engages with historic vehicle owners’ clubs and considers information received from historic marque specialists in support of applications to register historic vehicles. The DVLA recognises that some vehicles require the expert opinion of specialists to ensure that historic vehicles are preserved. Every effort is made where evidence allows to reunite vehicles with their original registration numbers and if that is not possible to allocate alternative age-appropriate registration numbers.

The DVLA has recently set up a user group to support the historic vehicle sector. This promotes collaborative working between representatives from the historic and classic vehicle sector in relation to the DVLA’s services, policies, and initiatives.