Nick Fisher, founder and CEO of Forecourt Eye, acknowledges the vastly improved service accessing vehicle keeper details, following years of lobbying by a team led by the PRA.
Credit where credit is due for the vastly improved process that has recently been introduced by the DVLA.
Forecourt Eye and the PRA have been lobbying for five years for digital access to keeper details via their ‘KADOE’ service. A team was formed, led by the PRA which include the Home Office Neighbourhood Crime Unit, the DVLA, and also representation from the police at DCC level and Operation Tutelage supported for a short period too.
Even though the ultimate objective was access to keeper details digitally, other options were also discussed such as the police dealing with all cases of fuel taken as criminal incidents which would mean no civil recovery, but all parties agreed this was not a viable option.
We asked the DVLA to pilot a part-electronic process but due to their internal longer-term IT improvements this was rejected. Forecourt Eye offered to pay for a full-time person to be based at the DVLA, dedicated to processing our keeper detail requests - again this was also rejected.
Five years later and we still don’t have access to the DVLA’s KODOE service, however what the lobbying did achieve was to bring the DVLA and Forecourt Eye closer. A joint operational team was formed to monitor in detail the process Forecourt Eye experienced when applying for keeper detail via the paper-based process.
Forecourt Eye at this time had a considerable back-log of applications and we expressed to the DVLA the impact this had on both encouraging and enabling repeat offenders and on our ability to recover fuel debt for our customers. Over the last 12 months through working together significant processing improvement has been achieved.
Since Forecourt Eye began trading, the turnaround times for keeper details from the DVLA have in many instances been months and we have certainly been quick to complain publicly and privately to the DVLA.
The impact of delayed keeper details has a detrimental effect on recovery rates so a slicker service ensures our customers financially benefit with better recovery rates.
But we are all now beginning to reap the rewards of everyone’s efforts. The service now provided by the DVLA has improved considerably and turnaround is now 10 days door to door. For a paper-based service we believe this is the best result we can achieve.
So, credit where it’s due - we would like to publicly thank the DVLA for its support and commitment to improving the service to Forecourt Eye and the rest of the industry.
Forecourt Eye offer a fully digital debt recovery service for NMoP and drive-offs to UK fuel retailers and are continually recovering on average of 60-70% of reported fuel losses. For more information about what we do please contact us on info@forecourteye.com or call us on 0113 887 4870.
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