Driving the Vehicle Compliance Management Act (VCMA)

Guest article by Alan Wood, CEO of NPED

The National Persistent Evader Database (NPED) was always going to be more than just a system. Establishing the true state of our vehicle community and creating the mechanism to campaign for new powers was always our aim.

The NPED team, along with the BPA (British Parking Association) and IPC (International Parking Community), have been working for the last 9 months to bring forward a new piece of legislation called the Vehicle Compliance Management Act (VCMA).

We are currently in discussion with the new Government, members of parliament and representatives in the House of Lords and a working group is being formed to progress this legislation, with a parliamentary round table expected later this year.

Why the UK needs VCMA

NPED’s research indicates that up to 10 million vehicles are non-compliant with various regulatory requirements. This is a growing issue and covers:

• Vehicles without Vehicle Excise Duty
• Vehicles without a valid MOT
• Vehicles without insurance
• Vehicles not properly registered with the DVLA
• Persistent Evaders of toll fees, congestion charges, or parking offences
• Vehicles displaying a cloned number plate

What VCMA aims to deliver

This legislation will empower issuing authorities to take proportionate actions against:

• Persistent evaders of parking offences
• Vehicles without MOT
• Vehicles without keeper details with the DVLA
• Vehicles using cloned number plates
• Vehicles registered overseas
• Vehicles displaying fraudulent, stolen, or deceased blue badges

Self-funding legislation

This much needed piece of legislation will be self-funding, so that, much like other forms of debt recovery in local government, the asset or perpetrator pays, therefore delivering a cost-effective solution to our national vehicle management issue.

NPED update

The NPED is delighted to welcome its first tranche of local authority and private operator clients:

• Vale of Glamorgan Council
• Swansea City and County Council
• Sevenoaks District Council
• North Essex Parking Partnership
• Liverpool City Council
  
• Parking Control Management UK

The first software providers – Atria, Imperial, Chipside and Farthest Gate – are in the final stage of integration.

This means that PCNs issued by the NPED-registered councils and operators can be checked against NPED’s database to highlight and record instances of persistent evaders and also vehicles that do not have MOT, vehicle excise duty, or that are not registered with the DVLA, so further action can be taken to bring them into compliance.

A second award for NPED

Following on from our Parkex Innovation Award win earlier this year, we have also been named Digital StartUp of the Year in the Southeast. Our entry will now progress to the UK Startup Awards final, which takes place on 12 September.

I want to congratulate all the team involved and we look forward to showcasing our achievements on the national stage later this month. I truly believe we need to start tackling the growing levels of non-compliant vehicles on our roads – and the parking sector is in a great position to play a key part of helping us to do this.

Stay tuned for further updates!