F&I Management & Training

The personal details of nearly 40 million motorists will be open to abuse when they are 'automatically' trawled by foreign states, an internal police report has admitted.

Sensitive information such as driver's address, motoring convictions and medical history will be exposed to routine sifting by police, traffic wardens and other officials across Europe when European Union data sharing plans come into force in 2011.

The 'restricted' document raises fears that the foreign traffic police and other bureaucrats on the continent will be able to hunt down British drivers years after they return home for reasons such as unpaid parking fines.

When the agreement was signed in 2007, ministers said it was part of a campaign against 'serious crime, terrorism and illegal immigration'.

But the report reveals that the government now believes the database run by the DVLA will be routinely accessed even for minor offences.