DVLA makes £9m from motorists' phoneline

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They are charged up to 8p a minute to use the controversial 0870 service – which has raked in receipts of nearly £3million in the last 12 months.

The annual sum raked in on the phoneline by the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency has risen fivefold over the last five years from £656,164 in 2002-3 to £2.89million in 2006-7.

The figures emerged in a parliamentary answer to a question from Tory transport spokesman Owen Paterson.

He said last night: "This is an astonishing rip-off. It amounts to another stealth tax by the Government. It has to stop."

Similar research has shown how the Driving Standards Agency, which administers tests for learners, has collected nearly £3million in call receipts over the last four years, receiving £623,284 last year.

Consumer watchdogs have previously called on government bodies, power firms, banks and others to drop the use of such premium-rate numbers.

Research has previously revealed that a ten-minute daytime call from a BT landline could cost about 80p to an 0870 number. But dialling a geographic number, the cost could be as little as 3p.