Warning following theft of blank DVLA Personalised Registration Documents

The Driver & Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) today warned motorists to be on their guard following the theft of hundreds of blank personalised registration documents. The incident occurred at DVLA’s stationery supplier on the 20^th of November 2012 and is being investigated by Northumbria Police.

Nine hundred blank V750 Certificate of Entitlement forms were stolen. The V750 is issued by DVLA to the purchaser of a personalised registration. In the wrong hands the certificates could be used to obtain false number plates, or more worryingly sold on to unsuspecting buyers who may believe they are buying the rights to a valuable private number plate. With the lowest price DVLA registration costing £250 a large-scale fraud could net the criminals a minimum of £225,000. The stolen V750’s have the serial numbers 5930101 to 5931000 but may have been altered to avoid detection.

The easiest way to make sure a Certificate of Entitlement is genuine is to use the ‘check validity’ feature via the DVLA Personalised Registrations website. To get access to the tool you must first register for an online account. After you have logged in, click on ‘check certificate validity’ and enter the registration and certificate number as shown on the from the V750.

The V750 Certificates weren’t the only items to be taken as part of the theft. Two thousand blank counterpart driving licences (D740) were also stolen at the same time. The D740 Counterparts are the documents that accompany the Photo Card Licence. DVLA has contacted vehicle hire companies to make them aware of the theft. Read the official announcement from DVLA.