Can you find someone's address from a phone number, an email address or a car registration in the UK?

Route by route: the short answer

Phone numbers

The UK has no public reverse directory. Directory enquiries and the phone book work from a name and a town to a listed number, never the other way round, and mobile numbers are not listed. Websites that promise a "reverse phone lookup" for UK numbers usually show the network the number was first issued by, the area an old landline code belongs to, or comments from people who received a nuisance call. None of that is an address. A mobile number is not tied to a place at all, and a landline number can move between providers.

The networks do know who their customers are, and they guard it. They disclose customer details to the police and other public bodies with legal powers to require them, and to private parties only when a court orders it. No network will tell you who holds a number because that person owes you money.

What you can do is use the number. A call or a text asking for an address for correspondence is legitimate where you have a genuine reason, such as an unpaid invoice. Repeated calls or messages after you have been asked to stop are a different matter, and can amount to harassment.

Email addresses

An email address is not linked to a home address by any public record. Providers will not identify the person behind an account for a member of the public, and a free webmail address may have been opened in any name at all. Searching the address on the open web sometimes turns up a business listing, a professional profile or a forum post, which can point to a name, a town or an employer. It rarely points to a front door.

In serious cases, such as fraud or defamation by an anonymous account, the High Court can order a third party that has become mixed up in the wrongdoing, such as a platform or a provider, to disclose who is behind it. That is known as a Norwich Pharmacal order. It needs a solicitor, it is expensive, and it is not a route for an ordinary debt or dispute.

An email address can matter later, too. Court documents can be served by email only if the person has previously agreed in writing to accept service that way, or the court permits it, so an email address is not a substitute for a postal address in proceedings unless one of those applies.

Car registration numbers

DVLA holds the name and address of each vehicle's registered keeper, and releases them only to people who can show reasonable cause. The examples it gives include finding out who was responsible for an accident, tracing the keeper of an abandoned vehicle or of one parked on private land, issuing parking and trespass charge notices, tracing people who drove off without paying for goods or services, and investigating suspected insurance fraud. An individual applies on form V888, explains the reason and pays the fee shown on the form. Private parking companies can only ask if they belong to an accredited trade association.

A debt with nothing to do with the vehicle is not among the reasons DVLA lists, so a number plate is rarely a route to someone who owes you money. Remember too that the keeper is not always the driver or the owner, and that the address held is only as current as the keeper's last update.

After a road accident the law gives you a more direct route. A driver involved in an accident that causes injury or damage must stop and, if asked by someone with reasonable grounds, give their name and address, the name and address of the vehicle's owner and the registration number. A driver who does not must report the accident to the police as soon as reasonably practicable. If the other driver left, report it to the police, tell your insurer, and use the Motor Insurance Database to check whether the other vehicle was insured. Websites offering a free "number plate check" show the make, model, tax and MOT status, which are public, and never the keeper.

What is lawful, and what is not

• Lawful: calling, texting or emailing a person for a genuine reason, writing to an address you hold, asking people you both know, applying to DVLA with a reasonable cause, and instructing a tracing service that records a lawful basis.
• Unlawful: getting someone's details out of a phone company, bank, utility or any other organisation by pretending to be them or by any other deception, which is a criminal offence under section 170 of the Data Protection Act 2018; getting into someone's phone, email or social media account without permission, which is an offence under the Computer Misuse Act 1990; and contact that amounts to harassment.
• Best avoided: apps and websites that claim to show where a phone is from its number alone. Ordinary location sharing works only on a device whose owner has switched it on and agreed to share. A service that says otherwise is at best misleading and at worst unlawful.

Trace Bureau never accesses anyone's accounts, devices or messages, and never obtains information by deception.

How a number or an email helps a professional trace

A professional trace starts from a person, not from a number. Trace Bureau's minimum is the full legal name plus a date of birth or a previous address, because those identify one individual. A phone number or an email address on its own cannot start a trace, but added to those details it is genuinely useful: it helps tell your person apart from others of the same name and can strengthen the confidence rating.

It can also work the other way round. Where they are on file, a mobile number, an email address or a property ownership check on the address found (from HM Land Registry) can be added to the report at £30 each, charged only if delivered. You do not need them for the trace itself.

If a number is all you have

Most people who start with a number have more than they think. Look for the surname in old messages or a voicemail greeting, the name on a bank transfer, a delivery address on an order, an invoice, a contract or an application form, and any address the person gave you at any time. A name from one place and an old address from another is enough to instruct. Can you find someone's address with just a name? has a checklist for gathering the rest.

When the question is bigger than an address

Sometimes the real question is who is behind a number or an account, not where a known person lives: an anonymous account sending abuse, a number used in a scam, a seller who took payment and vanished. Report crimes to the police first. Where you need to identify someone, gather evidence of a fraud or check who you are dealing with, that is investigation rather than tracing. Our sister service, Investigation Bureau (investigationbureau.uk), handles fraud and workplace investigations, due diligence, asset tracing and process serving. Trace Bureau only finds addresses.

When to instruct a professional trace

Instruct when you know who the person is, by full legal name plus a date of birth or a previous address, and you have a lawful reason to need where they live now: money owed, legal proceedings, a former tenancy, an estate or a commercial dispute. Add the phone number and the email address to the instruction. Standard is £150, delivered within 3 to 5 working days, and Priority is £200, delivered within 2 to 3 working days. There is nothing to pay when you instruct. Your card is only saved, and it is charged only when a private investigator has verified a current address. Not found, no fee. Instruct a trace online.