Driving Tests: Fraud
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, for the total number of people, broken by nationality, on the Department's Person of Interest List concerning individuals involved with taking payment to take driving tests on a third party's behalf.
Answered by Simon Lightwood
The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) does not capture any information on nationalities at either the theory or practical driving tests.
The DVSA has robust measures in place to stop people using false identities when taking a driving test.
At the start of the driving test, all driving examiners carry out thorough identification and documentation checks to satisfy themselves of the person’s identity, and the validity of the driving licence and theory test pass certificate.
To make it harder for fraudsters to impersonate a candidate, DVSA has worked in partnership with the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency to give driving examiners access to an enlarged photograph of the candidate, as shown on the driving licence, to help the examiner decide if the person presenting for a test is the correct candidate. If a candidate fails to satisfy the examiner that they have complied with the requirements, the examiner will, under legislation, refuse to take the test.
DVSA takes very seriously any allegations of fraudulent activity, including candidate impersonation. It has a dedicated Intelligence Threat Hub to enable assessment of all information available and prioritisation of investigations, and a dedicated counter fraud and intelligence team to investigate such allegations.
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