Hi CAG, hope this doesn't come across as too trivial. I have a pet hate about unwanted marketing emails / messages etc, particularly from companies I use, when I've expressly asked not to receive these. It's the reason why I've had the same email and mobile number for over 10 years with little-to-no junk. On the occasions I do get something, I usually pick it up with the company directly to sort it. However, First Utility seems to have crossed a line this time - in the last week or so, I've had a postal letter, 2 texts and an email. However, these aren't strictly from First Utility - but from Siemens, on FU's behalf, trying to get me to buy a smart meter. Am I right in thinking this is not only breaching my request not to receive marketing information, but actually breaches Data Protection by passing my details to a 3rd party? Would be good to go back to them with something more robust than 'please do not send me this' for them to then ignore.

Not sure if this goes under CRA or Data Protection, please move if required. I am working on an EU complaint with some others about what to me seems a breach of the data protection act or at least article 8 of the human right act regarding privacy rights. I have obtained company documents from a CRA (meant for their clients) that offer customers the opportunity to join what I will call a "club", when they join they agree to provide the data on their customers including monthly payments and an update of their address. In return they get some free access (depending on how much info they share) to CRA system. CRA then use that data to update alerts to debt collectors, information brokers and other clients. My initial concern about this was about PURPOSE, the monthly payments are NOT credit payments, but for a broadband service (with 4 million customers), they even provide this customer information if the client prepays a year upfront. If the purpose of the CRA is about CREDIT then it seems entirely WRONG to pass on this information. If it was an energy company I would have a problem if the client were paying on presentation of the bill but tolerate it if the client added an outstanding bill to a monthly payment system which is in effect credit. My next concern was that the broadband company provided no meaningful way for the customer to opt out of having their data shared, the only reference in the terms provided at the point of sale was that a customer may have an address check. There is a page on their website that says they share your data with CRA, it is very much a take it or leave it comment saying we do this for your own good. If this is taken to it's logical conclusion McDonalds could share that you bought a burger, Petrol stations could share your purchasing location and so on. I think we all should have a reasonable expectation of privacy that when trading with a company as a private individual. I had a chat with a lowly member of staff at the ICO and they suggested that the CRA's are given carte blanche by the ICO and that we have to "account for ourselves", my response was that we do IF we decide to participate in taking credit but not if we do not take credit. They suggested that I might want to complain to the EU commissioners or I could complain to them first but they have a history of not going near CRA's. SHOULD WE BE ENTITLED TO OPT OUT OF THE CREDIT REFERENCE SYSTEM OR AT LEAST CONTROL WHAT IS SHARED? It would seem that Article 8 of the Human Rights Act thinks we should! It talks about a PRIVATE LIFE... The concept of a right to a private life encompasses the importance of personal dignity and AUTONOMY and the interaction a person has with others, both in private or in public. The right to personal autonomy and physical and psychological integrity, respect for private and confidential information, particularly the storing and sharing of such information Respect for privacy when one has a reasonable expectation of privacy and the right to control the dissemination of information about one’s private life. It seems to me there is no autonomy (self-government) afforded to the consumer with regard to the storing and sharing of their information by these credit reference agencies. Especially for those that do not even take credit. I think WHO I TRADE WITH and HOW MUCH I PAY it is a very private thing, especially if I am not given a MEANINGFUL way to opt out and to me that means a tick box where I say “NO YOU MAY NOT SHARE MY DATA WITH ANYONE WITHOUT MY EXPRESS WRITTEN PER OCCASION PERMISSION.” I think this "club" should be totally illegal, it amounts to a data swap. It seems to me that the ICO themselves by not enforcing this are in Breach of Article 8 as well as both the company providing the information and the CRA sharing the information. I would be very grateful for comment from the members of this forum and any advice they may wish to provide.

Hi, I've had the unfortunate experience of having to deal with British Gas customer services since January to date. They're aggressive, ignorant, incompetent and disconnected in many ways, to the extent that their collections team are unable to view things going on with the account in the billing team. Its clear that I'm getting nowhere with them by complaining, so I've resorted to: Transferring to Ovo (Who have been brilliant so far) Spreading the word and telling everyone I know about Ovo. Most significantly though, I have raised two e-petitions on the government website to force British Gas into improving their services. One has been accepted and one has just been submitted. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Energy Suppliers Service Related Charging Responsible department: Department for Energy and Climate Change I would like the government to impose a mechanism upon the Energy industry whereby a company's charges are determined by the levels of service they provide, as with the Water Industry & SIM (Service Incentive Mechanism). This would force the likes of British Gas with a 39% customer satisfaction rating (Which? 28/04/14) to concentrate on improving their services to customers. --- ******** http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/64429 ********** --- Recently, 'British Petroleum' embarrassed our nation with their disaster in America. 'British Gas' currently have a 39% Customer Satisfaction Rating from a 'Which?' survey. I would like the government to licence the use of the name 'British' in company names to ensure that any company using it, provides a world class service that reflects traditional British qualities. Quality of service should be measurable with pre-defined parameters that companies must meet before they are allowed to use OUR good name. --- I hope you agree with these sentiments. If you do, please help and sign my petition. Also, please don't forget to confirm your entry by clicking the link in the email they send you. Best Regards, Rob

I've just finished the work programme at Ingeus two weeks ago. Absolute waste of my life. But I think everyone who's been on it agrees - even the JCP advisers I've had agree but say it's just a hoop we have to jump through if we want our money. But my question is why do so many people who have nothing - no money, no stake in society, no job, etc, get so obsessed with data protection issues, like it's the CIA trying to gain information on them? Who cares? Why does it matter if you sign a form or not? Is it just a way to hold on to a sense that we are still important even though we are at the bottom of society's barrel? Surely there are bigger battles to win in the fight against getting sanctioned than just being adversarial all the time on data protection technicalities? I'll sign any form they want if it means I can keep getting my meagre benefit each week, short of the form that authorizes them sending me to the gas chamber, (Which judging by new reforms doesn't seem that long off). Serious question though - based on my fellow WP contestants, why do the disempowered always get such a bee in their caps about 'data protection' all the time? The successful/rich people I've met never cared less about signing Data protection forms. Any insight?

Hello,I'm hoping I can get some insight on my current situation with my Local AuthorityI've been a Council tenant since 2006 (my agreement is secured) - the property is a house flat; I'm on the ground with a tenant above and below meIn Oct 2008 on returning from work my living room had sprung a leak from the drop down/ boxed in area of the ceiling - was reported to the repairs team, plumbers & surveyors came out took a look and I was told it was fixed.In Oct 2012 again on returning home from work the leak had happened again and again plumbers and surveyors came outThe Council had said that the cause was the tenants washing machine upstairs not connected properly and the plumber rectified the leak upstairs/ flushed out the pipesIn a series of letters back & forth mainly with my concern that the same place had leaked twice I enquired as to how they fixed it the 1st time (2008) and how they've gone about fixing it this time round. They were and have been very reluctant to open the drop down ceiling box where the water penetrated. Saying it was not necessaryAt one point they said that the leak was caused by the front canopy roof - that was not the case on my investigation as the front canopy roof covered the bay front window onlyIn the end I done a Subject Access Request (Data Protection) and a Freedom Of Information request to see what info is held in regards to all repairs on the flatMy paperwork received showed that their internal systems contradicted what I was in fact told about the repair of the leak. There was no actual evidence or a logging of a repair job to stipulate that the leak source was found and remedied. I actually found a job logged saying 'source of leak unknown'I believe that 1. The Council is stalling on fully carrying out the repairs to the property (due to possibly cost and inconvenience)2. That the 2008 issue was in fact never remedied and instead left open to abuse as so it leaked again 2013. They had not even patched up the ceiling from the 2008 leakThey have continued in letters to refuse and acknowledge any wrong doing instead repeating that I was told 'X,Y & Z' by the Housing Repair teamI mistakenly wrote a 'letter before court action' documenting everything from 2008 till this year (when they finally repaired the ceiling Feb 2013) showing all evidence collated that what they have presented to me is in fact falseHaving re-read the Councils Complaints Guide I am within my right to ask the Chief Exec to investigate - thing is do I initiate Stage 3? As the Council have always kept my letters at Stage 2 and where its carried over from Oct 2012 to now. They still insist in calling the letters 'Stage 2 - Follow On'. As if to prevent me from taking it furtherAn idea of mine was to Subject Access Request or/ and F.O.I the external contractors used - KIERS, as they submit the work back to the Council on inspection and the Council gives it the OK or not. I am convinced that there is a job that the Council refused Kiers to undertakeMy help needed there is to what is the best question to ask so that I fully cover myself as there is a £10 charge I want to ensure that I get it rightI have a catalogue of evidence/ information collected - photo's 2008 & 2012, video taken of the water cleanup (2013), video footage taken when it leaked again and a list of missed appointments which cost me wagesAll help is much appreciatedRobin

I've noticed a large number of searches by a company I have no connection to; Lowell Portfolio. These are listed as 'unrecorded searches' , which I understand means only I can see them but does the Data Protection Act not offer any protection in terms of who can search my file? This is a company I owe nothing to, I have never been contacted by them, I have never had any dealings with them yet they have searched my file multiple times. I understand a would be lender can access my file but this is not the case here. Should I write and ask them what right they have to access my personal financial data? Or is that simply awaste of time?

Hi, this is our first new posting. I am trying to find out if an ex landlord of ours is in breach of the Data Protection Act in passing on a next of kin address to a utility company after we had left. The address in question was my Fathers and he is none to happy about receiving bills from this company. I can hand on heart say, that only the previous Landlord would have been privy to this address and no one else had it, certainly NOT the utility company. I am wondering how we stand legally in taking the landlord to court for breach. Can anyone predict how we are likely to fair. In honesty, we left the landlord no forwarding address as I am about to petition for bankruptcy, although all the other details of leaving the house were dealt with correctly. I can see no where in law that states we HAVE to leave a forwarding address.

Back in November I accepted a conditional job offer. The conditions being to complete a number of pre-employment checks and to provide satisfactory references. I supplied all the required information and completed all the necessary checks including a CRB disclosure and a medical. The results of these were satisfactory with no recorded issues raised on the CRB and, despite a history of depression, I was deemed fit to work by Occupational Health. My prespective line manager had been keen for me to start a.s.a.p and on a number of occasions said they were looking forward to me joining the team a.s.a.p. I was even invited to the team's Christmas Party. At the start of this month there appeared to be unnecessary delays; firstly a reference, which I was assured would be issued prior to Christmas, was apparently not received until the first week of January. Once received, I was told we were waiting for the line manager to clear my references and other documentation. The line manager then went on sick leave for a couple of days. When I chased HR again, I was told a start date could not be confirmed until the line manager had given his approval. Later that day the line manager called me and said there were questions outstanding with occupational health and he couldn't proceed until HR had provided him with the Dr's report. I explained that they had already received this (I had personally witnessed the Dr send this over by e-mail to HR) and I also offered to scan my personal copy and forward to HR again. He then requested details of the report and my medical history, but did not wish me to forward a copy, stating managers could not contact occupational health for information. I felt under pressure to answer his questions in order to progress the recruitment process. He expressed concerns over how depression might impact levels of absence and my ability to handle deadlines (neither of which have been an issue in the past). At the end of the phonecall I was told we still had to wait for the report to be sent in order for the Dr to co-oberate what I had said. I'm still waiting for a start date, but am concerned these are delaying tactics and the offer will be withdrawn. My question, at this time, is whether this is standard practice and what my rights are in this situation?

Sometime ago I complained to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) when Vodafone refused to remove the unwarranted default from my credit file. I proved that there was no default but a dispute; I also proved that no default notice was received by me. Vodafone told ICO that it sent default notice to my previous address. Vodafone confirmed that I communicated my new address before it sent its claimed default notice to a previous address, and of course before it filed the unwarranted default with credit referencing agencies (I proved all that; Vodafone wouldn’t have admitted to it). Vodafone eventually told ICO it was an 'administrative error' (on its various databases that were not 'synced'). Would anyone believe that Vodafone would not have updated or synced their various databases for over 2 years that the default had been filed? Information Commissioner' Office ruled that Vodafone did not comply with the forth principle that requires customer personal details to be accurate and where necessary kept up to date. Despite having been refused credit as a result of the default on my file, proving that the matter was a dispute, and proving that no notice was received by me, ICO did not ask Vodafone to remove the default. Any company that is found to have not complied with the forth principle would have processed customer personal data in way that caused substantial damage or distress to the customer. In my case I have been refused credit which I would not have been refused had Vodafone not filed unwarranted default which I was not aware of. Any excuse of 'administrative error' for a bogus default notice sent to a previous address is untenable. The fact remains that I did not receive any default notice because there was no default. Information Commissioner's Office did not consider the first principle of data protection that requires personal data to be processed in a fair, lawful and transparent manner. ICO overlooked Vodafone's failure to comply with first principle of data protection (i.e. fairness, lawful and transparency), and refuse to honour my objection to processing my personal data (i.e. the default) with credit referencing agencies, which is causing me damage and distress. It doesn't matter to the ICO if the matter was a dispute or a default; It doesnt matter to the ICO if I did not receive a default notice. Vodafone also wrote to me saying, 'Vodafone have now amended your account and no further correspondence will be sent to your previous address'. Did I complain to the ICO that any correspondence was sent to my previous address? Did I complain that I received any correspondence in my previous address? Obviously I did not. Can an unlawful default in an invalid address (previous address) at the time of filing such an unlawful default be updated (or be 'amended' as ICO and Vodafone put it) and be brought into a current address? In fact it appeared to me that Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) covers for Vodafone as many things didn't look right about how the ICO dealt with my complaint. I keep all that didn’t look right for my fight if Vodafone and Information Commissioner's office didn't do the right thing as soon as possible. Anyone with similar experience?

Hi, About a month ago i had an alert which noticed that a credit agency were searching for somebody on my credit report with a similar name to myself (imagine my name is marianne o' connor - the name was mary conner, etc.) my credit report dropped 50 points as somebody was trying to trace me for unpaid debts. i thought at first it was identity fraud then to my horror the penny dropped... In january 2011 i moved into a flat and signed myself up with SSE. I have a welcome letter from them dated 25 january. ( i have this letter as proof) then i received a strange letter from Scottish power about my new account dated the 7th - the day i officially started tenancy - named this strange name. I found it very bizarre and thought, well i havent signed myself up. i imagined the fact that i had transferred to SSE would override it as they of course would take over my energy supply. i could only imagine that somebody had signed me up to scottish power under my name. i did not do this and never authorised anybody to do so. why else would the account be in the wrong name? i can only imagine somebody had got my name (landlord? previous tenant? letting agency?) and signed me up. As i had transferred i was not worried - SSE were contacting the previous supplier. i later received two electricity bills to my horror - the same address but two different companies. i obviously had to pay them ( ironically as i did not want unpaid bills against my name and set about sorting the whole mess out - Scottish power had billed me for electricity from 7 jan - 14 march ( i have this bill and bank statements - i can prove this) SSE told me that scottish power were at fault - they should have disconnected the supply. How can SSE start a supply without taking the meter number from Scottishpower during the switch? This took ages to get sorted out - i had direct debits of different amounts going out from two suppliers. I paid at the end of march a bill to SSE too. i have proof of this. I spnt ages chasing this up - i could not understand how scottish power could allow somebody to be signed up without their consent and then mess up a switch and then bill me in error. i had to send emails to them asking about amended bills as there were errors in billing - i cannot be paying two suppliers for one supply. i moved out at the end of may. I paid my final bill to SSE and was told I was fully up to date and my electric accounts were closed. Fast forward to me finding this credit search - it suddenly hit me it was these guys at scottish power again. i rang them up - of my own volition asking if there was any money that needed paying as i was concerned that somebody had been looking for me - they had my email, my phone number an online account - i received no contact. they said there was an outstanding amount. no mention even then of a default. i gave them my new address and got a final bill and paid it. then i received a letter from pastdue credit solutions (using the new address info) saying ' scottish power may register a default with CRAs' - i had no idea this was going on and had no idea they reported to cras - i did not give my consent for my name and information to be used in such a way. Surely this can't be right - you cannot just sign people up to credit agreements without their knowledge. As far as i was concerned, I'd paid my bills - if i were delinquent why would i ring up of my own volition asking if i needed to pay anything the second i realised? they made no reasonable attempts to contact me other than a bill that clearly arrived after i'd left the property- my ACTUAL supplier was given a forwarding address. I've been turned down for current accounts and then an overdraft with my bank - when i checked my experian credit report I was horrified to find a default from scottish power for a final bill £60 dated last year. I had no idea about this as it was at my old address. I'm gutted as my partner and I want to apply for a mortgage and there is now a default against me that i had no idea about. And for such a paltry amount too. i feel this is very unfair and i wish to complain and get it removed, if not on the basis of scottish power's ineptitude than on the basis that it is not in my name and not with my consent. What should i do, and to where should i complain? Thanks!

Hello everyone- I am a newbie!!! I would be very grateful for any advice you can give meas acting on hubbys behalf ( as works offshore) 1. Had a CC with Egg with direct debit in place. Payments upto date and no arrears. 2. Tranferred over to Barclays as part of the Egg deal last November 2011. 3. Received notification of this in November- expected December payment to go out as per the existing direct debit. 4. Find out end of December, that direct debit ( dispite being told otherwise) did not go out. 5. Hubby home for holidays so rang up, paid Decembers payment and was told a new mandate for the direct debit would come out. 6. Direct debit manadate was completed and returned and should have been taken in Feb 7. Again a pattern of point 5 and 6 happened again when hubby came home in April . 8. Direct debit has been active and ready to be instructed since April. 9.The phonecalls started in May - tried explaining the siutuation but due to ' Data Protection' they could not disclose this information. ( Hubby was away) 10. Sent letters explaining the situation but heard nothing- then on the 5th July 2012 I had an unexpected visitor from one of their debt collectors. 11. He asked for my Hubby by name- ( his name bagdge was facedown). Never had experience of this before, so said sorry he is not in. Was ready to close door when he started disccusing Hubby's account- outstanding balance showed me a sheet with details from Barclays- amount owning etc. He was rather loud. I asked him to be quiet as neighbours were out in the garden. At this time, I was feeling rather intimidated- shaking infact. I asked for his name but he said it so fast- I could not catch it. He was not presented well to represent a company such as Barclays. 12.Phoned Baclays/Mercers straight up- I was very distressed ( I am only in my ealry 30's and this man was very intimating) they stated that they would lodge this as a complaint and I would hear back dispite hubby being away. 13. Hubby returned home last week for hols- phoned up Barclays/Mercers regarding this and the direct debit- was advised that this issue had not been looked into and she was escalting:-x to level 2. Advise about direct debit not going out- she said no mandate had been sent out and therefore could not be set up. Hubby said yes, it has, we have proof ( I had scanned and printed a copy for reference) went through the form and she accepted this. 14. On Wednesday we received letter dated 7th Aug 2012 stating they wrote to hubby on the 7th August 2012 and would repond with 30 days????????????? I am so sorry for the length of this email but wanted people to know the true facts. Direct debit finally being taken but the they have marked my credit file and don't appear bothered regarding the data protection breaches- I could have been anyone- he did not ask me who I was. Would appreciate anyones advice on what to do next please?

Hi, I have a case currently with the Financial ombudsman against MBNA. I recently had to submit further information and evidence to the ombudsman. I have a copy of the information MBNA hold on me including call logs and computer screen shots etc. On the call log there is a comments section for each call where the member of staff from MBNA has written notes on the call. Unfortunately these notes are written in a mixture of text speak and nonsense, and there is no way anyone other than the author could understand them. As the data protection act says that they must provide all info in a way I can understand, I wrote to MBNA and asked them to provide me with a translated copy of the comments ( all 30 pages! ) nearly 2 months ago. I also wrote to the ombudsman to state I couldn't be expected to present all the evidence until MBNA had responded. I haven't had any kind of response from MBNA at all. However this week I received a letter from the ombudsman explaining that MBNA claim not to have received the letter. I sent the letter recorded and have proof of delivery, so I know MBNA received it the day after I posted it. I was just wondering, have MBNA committed any offence by ignoring this request, and what, if anything, can I do about it? Thanks

Hi all At work we're having some difficulty with a supplier. Today, I received a recorded delivery letter at home. I looked at it before I signed for it, saw who it was from and refused it. Questions for the experts please: 1. can they legally do this? I am an employee, not a manager or director 2. my family is very worried that someone will turn up - do I have any options as regards to banning them from contacting me, deleting my personal data. I am worried that will start to use my details and pass them on to other parties such as DCAs. 3. can I sue them for harassment? This has, to be frank, wrecked this weekend. I won't go into too much detail of the company & dispute here as I'm fairly confident that they search the web for such posts, but if any moderator wants to know more, please PM me. Any advice or thoughts welcome as always. Many thanks

I wonder if you could give me some advise... This complaint has been in there hands a couple of days and they have investigated through the customer relation department and have immediately offered me £100 compensation. What I want to know is whether to fight it out and ask to speak to someone more senior cause I think this is pretty serious. I have copied in my complaint letter originally so you get the drift of whats going on.... Dear Sir / Madam, Following a visit into your Bedford branch I am deeply concerned around your data protection procedures and slightly concerned that the data you hold for me is not being held in a secure manner. I went into your branch yesterday; Wednesday 20th July 2011, to amend my address on file with yourselves and to also upgrade my account. I immediately went to the main reception in your branch and was greeted by a customer service agent; unfortunately I do not have his name, however I explained I needed to change my address and he asked me for my debit card. He messed around on his computer for a few minutes and then without asking me any data protection questions or even asking me to put my pin in, he revealed to me the address you had on file and also all the contact details you held for me. Now I am sure you can understand my concern around this and I am sure you can understand my even bigger concern; when still without any data protection questions, he went ahead to amend my address and contact details on your system. Now, if I was a fraudster and I had just found this card on the street. I have now been into the branch got personal information and also changed the address on file to one of my choice, which now means I will be receiving bank statements e.c.t. which would make it very easy for me to commit fraud. All of this without a single data protection question, proof of identification or a pin number. Yet it gets worse. I also wanted to upgrade my account with Lloyds TSB and was seated in the waiting area and a very nice man (James Burraway) assisted me in doing this. Yet again however no data protection checks were done and even more personal information was brought up on the screen in front of me such as the balance of my account. My job works around FSA regulations and DPA Adherence and I am sure you can plainly see the very serious breach of both which have been committed by your Bedford Employees on two separate occasion. I have brought this to your attention as a matter of urgency as currently I feel as if I no longer wish to hold account with Lloyds and also that I should be reporting you to the Financial Services Authority for this very serious Issue. I expect to hear from you as a matter of urgency around how you are going to resolve this matter and also how you are going to deal with the members of staff involved and what you are going to do to prevent this from happening to me and other Lloyds TSB customers in the future. If I do not consider your response satisfactory I will not hesitate to take the matter further. Yours Faithfully Ash Harris

Hi All, Insurance companies can contact the DVLA to request your personal information (i.e. regarding the points on your license). However, After FOUR years points expire and are removed from your license. Insurance companies now ask if you have any points in the last FIVE years. Will the DVLA release points information which is older than four years to insurance companies? Does the DVLA even store information about points which are expired OR is that information deleted? Any help with regards this matter will be highly appreciated.

When we were working away we let our house through a letting agency who, although they had a "high street presence" did not safeguard our interests as landlords. We were naive, and trusted the firm because they had a shop front and adverts in the local papers. In short, although we were paying them £50 per month we ended up with no proper tenancy agreement, no inventory or statement of condition, no regular review, and more to the point, no agency agreement. We had tenants who were "men of straw" and lived like pigs. We found the remains of a Chinese takeaway under the sofa, and it and the sofa were infested with insects. They had a dog (contrary to the tenancy agreement we thought we had) which had used the hallway and stair post as a toilet area. Fortunately our next-door neighbour had our phone number and turned out to be a true friend. The agency "dis-instructed themselves" once they knew we were onto them, leaving us to appoint a new reputable letting agency, simply so that we could serve legal notice to quit on the tenants. The tenants caused thousands of pounds worth of damage to the fabric of the building including the need to replace ceilings and door frames, but we were lucky in that they did agree to leave, albeit after they had well "spent" any deposit we might have used to help cover some of the damages. However, when we moved back into the wreck of our "home" we continued to receive debt collection letters for well over 5 years after they had vacated. We wrote letters and phoned the various agencies concerned, but all they seemed to do was to sell the debt on to another collection agency, and they took no notice at all when we said that the tenants had moved on. Threats to report them to the Information Commissioner for failure to update their data under the terms of the DPA were simply laughed off. We have now sold the house in question, but I thought that readers of this forum might be interested to learn of our experiences. We are now NEVER going to let a house again, of course, but we would be interested to know if there was any action we could have taken to stop these debt collectors harassing us, other than what we had already done.

I'm not sure if anyone will know this but you never know! I heard recently that someone had done a check on me. The key points are I was left some money in a will a few months ago and the check that was done found this out due to my dealing with the solicitor. I thought all dealings with solicitors were confidential so was a bit surprised it appeared to be public avaialable even to the amount of money I had inherited. Other things were details of my parents and things I guess are on the electoral register which I guess are public available. The person who did the search was a barrister. Basically the barristers son likes my girlfriend and I guess was hoping to find something to put her off me. I am basically wondering if there is anything I can do as it seems an abuse of position, if nothing else to be able to invade my privacy like this. Does anyone know what search this is that was done and any rules around this? Thanks.