Is this a breach of the Data Protection Act?

Question

Until very recently I had newspapers delivered to my door however, due to a cash flow breakdown I defaulted on the payments. The person who runs the newsagents has told my neighbour (who I am on good terms with but not to the point of sharing my finances) about the existence of the debt, the amount owed and their intention to pursue the debt legally if I do not pay?

Is this not a breach of my rights under the Data Protection Act? Surely this is in no way keeping my records secure and can be seen as an unauthorised disclosure.

The thing is, though I always intended to settle this debt as soon as I could I feel that I may have grounds to ask for it to be reduced (I would never be presumptious enough to ask for it to be cancelled alltogether). Please could somebody advise me.

Answer 1

The Data Protection Act cover mainly information 'being processed by means of equipment operating automatically in response to instructions given for that purpose'. Usually this means on a computer. If your newsagent had printed out the information and given it to some one or allowed unauthorised person(s) to see it, then it will constitute a breach. If he goes around gossiping about you, it is unlikely to be a breach of the act. He is acting in an unprofessional and vindictive way. He has, of course, a right to his money, and I trust you will eventually settle your account as you say you will. But that is no way to collect his money. I would point out to him that he has betrayed customer-seller confidentiality and it could damage his business if he continues to treat people in that way.

Answer 2

A newspaper delivered to your door is a luxury and how dare you not pay for this when it is so difficult to run that sort of service and not loose money. I can tell you that it is no breach of the Data Protection Act and I hope the poor shop recovers every penny you owe together with costs which should be considerable

Answer 3

Organisations may use information about you for purposes which are consistent with those for which they held the information in the first place.

It is not always necessary under the Data Protection Act for organisations to obtain your consent before disclosing information about you. Whether or not they need to do this will depend on the particular circumstances in which the information is being processed. Organisations should normally be open with you about how they intend to use your personal information. However, there are certain situations in which they are not required to do this, for example, where:

the disclosure is for the purposes of preventing or detecting crime, and complying with the openness requirement would be likely to prejudice those purposes; or
where the disclosure is required by law or by a court order.

Answer 4

Yes that is a breach, no-one has any right to give any personal/financial information about you to your neighbours. They are only allowed to give this kind of information out in very rare circumstances ie to the police

Answer 5

if the shop has given out any informaition about any of its customers then yes, its a breach of the data protection act

Answer 6

They had no right telling your neighbour however I would stop the papers & pay them.The reason I would pay is so I did not get debt collecters at my door.