Confidential documents found by Worthing Town Hall bins (From The Argus)

Confidential documents found by Worthing Town Hall bins

7:00am Tuesday 25th August 2009 in

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Confidential council papers containing residents’ bank details and addresses have been found dumped outside a town hall.

The documents also include information about an investigation into flytipping, a bill to a letting agents for cockroach extermination and a document relating to a fraud interview.

Former Worthing councillor Mark O'Keeffe, who found the papers behind Worthing Town Hall, claimed the disposal of the information was a “clear breach” of the Data Protection Act.

Mr O'Keeffe said: “Leaving people's personal details on the street is appalling.

“There are bank details, a note of a fraud interview. I would be horrified if it was my information.

“The papers should have been shredded. It just seems to be a total disregard for people'e confidential information.”

Mr O’Keeffe said he found the documents while taking a shortcut on Sunday.

He explained: “I was walking through using it as a shortcut and the initial reason I had a look was because of the bins.

“I was appalled by the state of the place, it looked so untidy.

“The back of a council building should be setting an example.”

Mr O'Keeffe said he would be making a complaint to the Information Commissioner’s Office, the authority charged with ensuring organisations stick to data laws, about the papers he found.

A spokeswoman said that when Mr O'Keeffe makes the complaint, the Information Commissioner’s Office would be investigating.

A spokeswoman for Worthing Borough Council said: “We take the issue of data protection very seriously and will be investigating this matter thoroughly.

“We will also be reminding everyone at the council of the correct procedure for dealing with confidential waste. This is certainly not the way confidential waste is normally dealt with at any Worthing Council office. This sort of waste is normally shredded and removed by a specialist contractor.”

Mr O'Keeffe handed the confidential papers to The Argus after he found them.

Yesterday we returned them to Worthing Borough Council to be shredded.