Data Protection Act Help!!!!

maninthestreet

Your car registration number isn't personal data (as it relates to a vehicle, not a living person), so it's probably not covered by the DP Act.

Neil1975_2

maninthestreet wrote: »

Your car registration number isn't personal data (as it relates to a vehicle, not a living person), so it's probably not covered by the DP Act.

the car belongs to a friend and is registered at his house, i was at my house 30 miles away...

maninthestreet

Neil1975 wrote: »

the car belongs to a friend and is registered at his house, i was at my house 30 miles away...

....how does that make any difference? Car registration numbers are unlikely to be considered personal data, as they relate to a vehicle, not a living person, so there has been no breach of the DP act. They have to be clearly diaplayed on both the front and rear of every vehicle used on a public road.

TrickyWicky

My points are in red.

steve-L wrote: »

The OP is or is not a customer of the delivery company.
This is kind of irrelevant as the driver didn't visit to deliver. No it's not. There is now a business case for the company to have dealings with the driver due to an insurance claim.

If they had passed data to the driver from a customer database this MIGHT be a breach depending upon contracts. It is still a breach regardless. If it had been a customer from the database it would not be - there is a business relationship between the company and the customer.

DVLA SELLS your information to many third parties (Tesco is one).
Tesco clubcard correlate this with your sales by using ANR to recognise your pate when you park and correlate to your address, how far you travelled and even your credit rating which is also sold to them. This is covered under the contract if you get a clubcard. Just because it happens doesn't mean its legal. Do you not remember a couple of years back MPs kicking and screaming when they realised what the DVLA had been doing? It isn't legal but the government will not back down because its a cash cow. Just because the government are at it, doesn't mean that its illegal. Tesco doing what you're saying is also on dodgy ground - they do not NEED to do what they're doing, they simply choose to to try and maximise their sales.

Neil1975_2

maninthestreet wrote: »

....how does that make any difference? Car registration numbers are unlikely to be considered personal data, as they relate to a vehicle, not a living person, so there has been no breach of the DP act. They have to be clearly diaplayed on both the front and rear of every vehicle used on a public road.

My concern isn’t whether a car reg number is classed as personal data. The issue is that I called a company to inform them of an incident that had occurred due to the negligence and stupidity of their driver that had resulted in damage to my vehicle and a great deal of distress to myself. I did not give them my address or authorise them to visit my home, the call ended with the standing instruction that I would hear from their insurers. My car reg number and details of the incident were then passed to the driver who then must have returned to the area and driven house to house looking for the car before entering my property uninvited in what has been confirmed by my neighbour and assumed by myself with the way he knocked hell out of my door, as an extremely angry state.

Neil1975_2

TrickyWicky wrote: »

My points are in red.

I agree in principle with your point about there being a case for the company to have dealings with me due to an insurance claim but matters like this are addressed through post, email or phone. The company passed the car registration to the driver who then chose to visit my home within an hour of the incident without informing me of this action or giving me the opportunity to refuse this visit.

maninthestreet

Neil1975 wrote: »

My concern isn’t whether a car reg number is classed as personal data. The issue is that I called a company to inform them of an incident that had occurred due to the negligence and stupidity of their driver that had resulted in damage to my vehicle and a great deal of distress to myself. I did not give them my address or authorise them to visit my home, the call ended with the standing instruction that I would hear from their insurers. My car reg number and details of the incident were then passed to the driver who then must have returned to the area and driven house to house looking for the car before entering my property uninvited in what has been confirmed by my neighbour and assumed by myself with the way he knocked hell out of my door, as an extremely angry state.

You opened this thread with a title and post that clearly indicated you
thought a breach of the DP Act had occurred, but clearly there hasn't been any breach. Further, you are only guessing that the car registration number was passed onto the driver. The driver may well have been fully aware of the incident and remembered the make, model and colour of the other vehicle involved, and has returned to your street and located the said vehicle at your address. The actions he took, i.e turning up at your property unannounced to confront you, in an angry state of mind may well mean he was subject to disciplinary action, but you have no right in law to know whether he was subject to any disciplinary action. I'm unclear what you hope to get out of taking your complaint further with the company involved.

arcon5

I don't see how the driver having your details is a breach of DPA. Presumably you've provided it to the insurers? Who are merely their agents and indemnifying them, thus the details should be available to the company - and it's employees.

What could be a breach is how your information was used. If used for example to apologise on behalf of himselve and his employer then that's fine. If he's merely got your info and using them for personal use ie to have a go outside of his duties as an employee then this could be another issue

Neil1975_2

arcon5 wrote: »

I don't see how the driver having your details is a breach of DPA. Presumably you've provided it to the insurers? Who are merely their agents and indemnifying them, thus the details should be available to the company - and it's employees.

What could be a breach is how your information was used. If used for example to apologise on behalf of himselve and his employer then that's fine. If he's merely got your info and using them for personal use ie to have a go outside of his duties as an employee then this could be another issue

To clarify the timeline, the incident occurred around 11.30am. I got home a few minutes after and called the companies head office, about 20 minutes later the depot manager called back and took details of the incident and took my name, mobile number and the car registration number. He didn’t ask for my address and I explained that the car didn’t belong to me but belonged to a friend of mine. Around 15 minutes after this call the driver turned up at my home, the manager I spoke to made no mention of anyone coming to my home and simply advised that the companies insurers would be in touch within a couple of hours.

My drive way is on a raised area set back from the road, if you drove past it would be incredibly difficult to see a car parked there. Therefore I can only surmise that the driver either was aware of the incident and drove away regardless, or the manager passed the reg number to the driver who then went house to house looking for the car.

Neil1975_2

maninthestreet wrote: »

You opened this thread with a title and post that clearly indicated you
thought a breach of the DP Act had occurred, but clearly there hasn't been any breach. Further, you are only guessing that the car registration number was passed onto the driver. The driver may well have been fully aware of the incident and remembered the make, model and colour of the other vehicle involved, and has returned to your street and located the said vehicle at your address. The actions he took, i.e turning up at your property unannounced to confront you, in an angry state of mind may well mean he was subject to disciplinary action, but you have no right in law to know whether he was subject to any disciplinary action. I'm unclear what you hope to get out of taking your complaint further with the company involved.

In regards to what I’m seeking from this I’ll be honest, when the insurers dealt with the damage to the car they provided the necessary amount to meet the quotation I had provided and an amount to cover my taxi costs when dropping / picking up the car (£20). I explained to both the insurers and the company that I would be seeking some form of reimbursement for the out of pocket expenses I had incurred seeking quotes, having no use of the car for the duration of the repairs and the general distress caused by the incident itself and the drivers follow up actions. It was agreed by both the insurers and the company that these matters would be addressed by the company but after nearly six weeks of emails not being answered and pre arranged phone calls not being returned I finally received a half arsed written apology.