Most of you will be aware of new powers the Freedom of Information Act gives us - namely the right to access certain information held by local or Government authorities.

We decided to give it a test to see if we could obtain information that was previously denied to us.
We wrtoe to the DVLA asking three simple questions;
1. How many anonymous reports of unlicensed vehicles tha have had in the previous 12 months
2. How many of those reports were investigated
3. How many of those investigations lead to a prosecution

In answer to our questions they responded with a detailed reply of the statisitics we sought and also gave an in-depth explanation as to how their 'whistle-blowing' scheme worked.
We do not really have room to repeat all that information but would like to share the statistics with you.

Out of 29,564 anonymous telephone reports of the use or storage of un taxed vehicles on a public road, ALL reports where investigated.
Of those investigated, 19,707 led to a formally call for action from the investigating officer.
Of those 19,707;
6,346 cased were closed successfully
3,545 cases led to a prosecution
2,802 cases were subject to an out of court settlement.

Quite impressive success rate given that the investigating officer only makes one visit to the location given in the anonymous callers information - one cannot help wondering that if they made 2 visits they might increase their 66% success rate.