GOVERNMENT plans to introduce a £25 first registration fee on cars, vans and trucks is the first step in plans to effectively privatise the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency, according to industry sources. If proposals to introduce the charge are approved by Ministers the DVLA would raise more than £50 million a year which Transport Minister Gavin Strang has pledged would be ring-fenced.

The DVLA receives about £170 million a year from the Treasury to fund its operation with most of the money being used to administer vehicle registration and driver licences. Informed sources believe that if the £25 one-off charge is introduced as planned on April 1 the Government could cut the cash it gives to the DVLA by the approximate £50 million raised.

An industry source told Fleet NewsNet: 'There is a lot of uncertainty in the DVLA which wants to wash its hands of the £25 fee proposal. It is a political decision. This money is being allocated to give the DVLA a trading fund; almost as if the Government was getting the DVLA ready for full or partial privatisation.'