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You’ve been sold for £2.50… or to be more precise, your personal data has.
Many companies sell their database for profitable gain but is it right for the government to do it? Some would say yes, if it keeps people in their jobs whilst others – fed up with junk mail on and offline – can’t sort out the rubbish from the good information – especially on e-mail. Last year for instance, the personal details of more than a million motorists were sold to private clamping companies by the DVLA. This included names, addresses, licence and vehicle details following which, one MP said included ‘some pretty dodgy characters’ operating ‘close to the edge of legality’.
Civil liberties campaigners condemned it as a ‘scandal’ in terms of divulging trade and personal details. Selling to ‘cowboy clampers and parking rogues’ making the Government a profit has certainly hit home, sparking off many debates in the Commons.
Simon Tse, Chief Executive of the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency, told the Commons’ transport committee that 1.2million pieces of information is given out annually to private parking companies and is part of a total of 21million pieces of data given out. Some 16.7million pieces of this were given to the public sector, of which included information to local authorities who needed details to help in situations such as finding the owner of a car blocking an entrance. The DVLA’s data earned the agency £8.5million last year alone.
Graham Stringer (above), Labour MP said that ‘Some of these parking companies are pretty close to the edge of legality’. While Mr Tse said information from the DVLA’s database was given only to parking companies approved by the British Parking Association. He went on to say the DVLA did not make a profit from the information, only charging £2.50 per inquiry to cover administrative costs.
NOTE: Neither Sandicliffe nor its partner companies will ever pass on its customer's data to another business – at any price.
Added: 08 December 2011
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