Home Address Given To Creditor By Third Party

[Rabbit73]

A limited company I was a director of recently ceased to trade. The company has not yet been formally liquidated and is unlikely to be as it has no assets.

My accountant is in the process of applying to have it struck off at companies house and has written to all creditors advising them of the situation.

I recently discovered through a third party that one creditor recently made an attempt to track down my home address via an individual who works for a company who I used to freelance for. This individual has access to what is actually my parents address via the invoices which I submitted for freelance work carried out earlier this year. My parents address appears on here as this is where I registered this particular business.

A letter from the creditor in qusetion has now appeared at my parents address and I have very strong evidence to indicate that they got this address from the individual who has access to my invoices. She is a member of senior management for the company I freelanced for.

Clearly I am very angry about this and want to pursue the matter. I'm sure there must be Data Protection issues as well as the obvious security issues of giving out a home address to a creditor.

Any advice on the likeliehood of pursuing this sucessfully? I can go into more detail about the evidence I have which indicates exactly how I know that the information came from this individual if you require it.

Thanks in advance.

[Oneeyedvic]

There possibly is an issue, but there is a bigger issue of the fact that if you are director of a limited company (whether or not you plan to liquidate in the future or not), you have an obligation to give your home address to companies house.

The employee in question, may have given that address on the assumption that this is public knowledge anyway.

[Rabbit73]

Thanks for your response.

Is that fact correct? And even if it is I'm pretty sure the information (my home address) isn't in the public domain. If it was the creditor wouldn't have had to resort to the detective work that they did. And I'm sure I would have heard from other creditors also.

As far as I'm aware the only info which they can access is the registered office of my limited company which is my accountants address.

So I think this is a non-issue. At the end of the day, an employee of a company accessed private data which I'm sure is covered by the Data Protection Act and forwarded it to a third party who they know on a social basis.

[Oneeyedvic]

If you really want me to, you can give me your limited company name or your company registration number, and I will tell you exactly who is down as Company Directors and company secretary including their home addresses.

When you became a director, you would have had a form from companies house entitled "responsibilities of a company director" or similar. I suggest you read this here: http://www.companieshouse.org.uk/about/gbhtml/gba1.shtml

The information can be acccessed by any memeber of the public. As a finance company, we have a 'search' facility on line - again this is open to anyone.

Sorry to burst your bubble, but if you were to try and take it further, I think you could actually find yourself in worse trouble.

[Plutus]

Just to confirm what oneeyedvic says. I recently accessed Companies House site and found that a local computer shop (limited company) were one year late in filing their accounts. I was then able - for the princely sum of �1. - to obtain a print-out of their last return on-line which included the address of the two directors and company secretary. As Vic says, this is a legal requirement which is publicly available.

[Rabbit73]

Thanks again for the feedback.

I don't really have "a bubble" that needs bursting though. I'm very familiar with limited companies and the responsibilities involved in directing them having been in business for over 10 years now.

Also could you explain the "worse trouble" I might find myself in if I report this incident to my lawyer?!?! That one has got me stumped!

The winding up and proposed striking off of this particular company has all been done correctly and has followed the proper procedures. I'm not looking for advice on that or on my responsibilities. I pay my accountant a fat cheque every quarter for this info.

I'm merely looking for advice on the legal aspects of what this individual has done with data relating to me stored by her comapny.

Tommorrow is Monday and I'll be able to speak to my lawyer. I'll report back on this thread

[Oneeyedvic]

Will be genuinely interested - giving details out of something that is in the public domain - can't see how that is an offense under the DPA,

Nor can I see that giving a third party details of a company's address on the invoice as an offense.

Anyway, unless you have signed personal guarantees for your credit agreements, the creditors can not chase you personally - they can only chase the limited company which is a seperate legal entity.

[Loosehead]

Presumably you are only angry about this because you are trying to hide from a creditor. Why don't you do the honourable thing and pay up?

[Rabbit73]

May I suggest Mr/Ms Loosehead that your time would be better spent finding a job or, if you already have one, doing some actual work rather than moralising on the world wide web at 15.32.

As I mentioned before, I've been in business for 10 years. This is the first venture to have ceased trading and I'm still involved in many other succesful enterprises. Businesses fail. It's a fact of life. One in ten years isn't a bad strike rate in my opinion.

As long as everything is handled in the correct manner and the proper procedures followed then your conscience should be clear. It has and mine is.

My issue is with one individual's abuse of confidential data. For anyone who is interested, my lawyer wasn't contactable today. I'll report back tommorrow.

And Mr/Ms Loosehead, as my old da' used to say..."if you've got nothing nice to say, shut the **** up!"

[kempie]

It may be pertinent that the bodies from which you may "freely" acquire information about persons other than yourself e.g. Companies House, Electoral Register etc., are those in the Public Sector.

In addition to the Data Protection Act, they must also adhere to the Freedom Of Information Act and other Statutory Instruments which do not apply to the Private Sector.

I am no expert but as I see it there may well be a case to answer if the Data Controller of a private company has "shared" data with a third party, in contravention of the DPA, regardless if that same information is available from another, i.e. public, source.

[Rabbit73]

Thanks for your feedback Kempie. This is exactly how I'm viewing the situation. The individual does work for a private company and I'm sure this incident must breach some knid of DPA compliance. Hopefully my lawyer should be able to shed more light on it tommorrow.

[Oneeyedvic]

Still not convinced - all the emnployee did was to pass on an address that was on an invoice (the fact that it was a persoanl as opposed to a business address is imho irrelevant)

Anyway, best bet is to speak to the information commissioner: http://www.informationcommissioner.gov.uk/eventual.aspx?pg=Contact%20Us as they are the ones who will prosecute.

[stevie21]

If this same info is available from Companies House (for free, �1 or in any way) then I'm with Vic.
If not, (and I didn't realise C.H. kept home addresses), then I'd go with my initial feeling that the person has resorted to underhand tactics to acquire your address and there has in fact been a breach of the DPA. If the info is so freely available then I'd assume that it's via this method that it was acquired unless you have evidence to the contrary.

IF it's freely available and the director you're suspicious of gave it from their otherwise confidential records (rather than sourcing it from C-House) then I don't think a breach has occurred.

I'd be interested to hear what an expert has to say.

[kempie]

I am also intrigued how this will play out. Everything hinges on what constitutes personal data.

stevie21 - with regard to personal info being given out; unless the company in question routinely do this as part of their business, in which case prior consent would be needed, they would be in breach of the 2nd principle of the DPA -

personal data may only be used for the purposes for which it was originally collected and not for any other purposes

The Data Protection Act also requires an organisation that processes any personal data to have in place procedures to control access to that data. The procedures may cover authorisation, authentication, as well as the purpose and consent for the processing.

If Companies House have the info required by the creditor then he should get it from Companies House. There is no justification within the DPA for another company to offer information just because it can be sourced elsewhere.

[Oneeyedvic]

I think it is hinging on what 'personal data' is.

I (personally) don't think that an address on an invoice from a trades person can be classed as 'persoanl data'

As a thought, if the employee gave this data out as a recommendation of a service, would this also be a breach?

[stevie21]

OK - all I meant was that if the info is freely available elsewhere then that may no longer be held as breaking the DPA. If my credit card company reveal my home address to the world then that's obviously illegal.
If they reveal the Queen's...

A home address is *definitely* personal data if it's not freely available. Just to muddy Vic's "if it's on an invoice, it's not personal data" :
My sort code and account number are on my every cheque but it'd be a breach for my bank to freely distribute those to anyone who asked.

I think I'll leave the answers here to an expert.

[Loosehead]

Well thanks for that Rabbit, very nice drawl but you still haven't explained why you are welshing on a debt. Just because you hide behind a company doesn't mean that somewhere someone isn't out of pocket. You just can't see it can you, loads of people are affected by dishonourable plonkers like you. Yes it's legal yes you've done it by the book, hope you feel great about it. Who do you owe? another business is it? thought so!

"If you've got nothing nice to say.........etc"

Well if you wanted help to welsh on a debt do not expect us to help you! Just remember AB is not a site to post to if you only want people to agree with you.

[Rabbit73]

"You still haven't explained why you're welshing on a debt"

Ummm.....I though I had. A company which I was a director of (one of three directors by the way) ceased to trade due to unfortunate and unavoidable changes in the financial climate. As this company was functioning in the creative industry, as is common in that field, it had no assets. Consequently some creditors won't be paid. It's unfortunate but that's business, something you clearly have no experience of (a civil servat perchance?)

I've been left out of pocket on numerous occassions in the past, it's why I now have a comprehensive insurance policy covering such instances. It's not nice, but I repeat again, it's a daily part of business.

I'd prefer it if you didn't reply to this as there is actually an interesting debate developing oin the real issue. A debate I'll adress in more detail when I'm not busy earning a living.

Thanks for all responses.

[Loosehead]

Well I'd better not answer as it's now past 9am and I must get back to my civil servant duties. Oh my word did you really post at 10am ? oh dear, petard and hoist, ring any bells?

[youngmafbog]

I'm with loosehead. Stop whinning about someone trying to track you down when you owe them - its irrelevant that you are hiding behind a company.

OK, businesses have problems but live with the fact someone else wants to recover from you - perhaps so they dont go under.

And dont assume because someone posts during the day they dont have a job. Ever heard of shift work.

[kempie]

stevie21 - an employee's home phone number is personal data and the DPA explicitly states that this is the type of information not to be divulged to third parties - and yet the vast majority of residential numbers are listed in telephone directories.

The DPA is not only about what kinds of data are held. It is also concerned on how data is handled.

Just because information exists elsewhere in the "public domain" does not mean a company can also give out the same information. The correct course of action would be for the third party to be told to look up the information in the aforesaid directory.