Information Commissioner Richard Thomas’ warning that data-gate was ‘only the tip of the iceberg’ has proved prophetic, after it has emerged that two computer discs containing the names and addresses of over 7,000 Northern Ireland motorists have been lost.
The uncrypted discs containing the details of 7,685 drivers went missing at a sorting office in Coventry, according to a leaked letter from the Department of the Environment.
The leaked letter to Patsy McGlone, Stormont Environment Committee chairman, states: “There is no record of packages leaving this depot in Coventry. In spite of extensive searches at the depot, they have not yet been found.”
The material had been sent from Northern Ireland Driver & Vehicle Agency in Co Londonderry and the Driver & Vehicle Licensing Agency in Swansea, in response to requests from a number of vehicle manufacturers who needed to contact drivers about potential faults in vehicles.
The agency has written to every motorist involved, and a special helpline has been set up along with every vehicle record being marked to alert staff in the “unlikely” event of data misuse.