back to article Top Tory 'lost voters' personal info' days before ID fraud week

Just days before the start of National Identity Fraud Prevention Week on Monday, the Prime Minister's chief policy advisor Oliver Letwin has been snapped binning what appear to be documents containing personal information in a public park. The discarded documents are said to include the addresses of Letwin's constituents in …

COMMENTS

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  1. Tom 15

    Eh?

    Does having your name and address public really expose you to identity fraud? It seems like a bit of a stretch...

    1. Ian Ferguson
    2. Mike007 Bronze badge

      yes, listing the names and addresses of constituents is a significant risk factor with identify theft. It's a good job that there isn't some kind of register of all the voters in a constituency with names and addresses on that is required by law to be publicly available isn't it?

    3. Mark 65

      FFS

      "The discarded documents are said to include the addresses of Letwin's constituents in West Dorset, which could expose them to identity fraud."

      Best sue BT for the phone book they keep up to date. Or perhaps next visit the electoral role.

  2. Naughtyhorse

    i dunno... could be worse...

    there could be some unspoken closeted bumstuffing aspect to this story - cos that sort of thing really upsets the tory heartland..

    oh! hang on a second.

  3. Ian Ferguson

    I'm not normally in favour of parliamentary pork barrel...

    ...but somebody buy that man an iPad.

    Or, better, fire him and buy his replacement an iPad.

    1. Will Godfrey Silver badge
      Happy

      Better still, replace him WITH an iPad

  4. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Last I checked, it was unlawful to dump household or commercial rubbish in a council park bin - I'm sure I read about some jobsworth environmental officers stinging people for £1000 fines if they found correspondence with a legible name and address in a council bin. Since it's from an office, that likely counts as commercial waste, which is likely even worse! I'm sure a fixed penalty notice for illegal dumping is winging its way to him as we speak...

  5. JimmyPage Silver badge
    FAIL

    Forget the data protection angle ...

    isn't this the same government that has a hard-on for recyling ?

  6. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Shredder

    Buy a shredder you stupid plank and put it on your expenses!

  7. You Are Not Free

    Here's a tip

    He did that on purpose.

  8. nematoad
    FAIL

    Well maybe

    "They are not documents of a sensitive nature."

    Bet you that the people who wrote the letters to Mr. Letwin might have another view on this.

  9. amanfromMars 1 Silver badge

    How extremely odd.

    Does anyone here on El Reg know of anyone else who gets rid of their correspondence by visiting the park and dumping it in public rubbish bins, and isn't that a bit mad and peculiar? Is Oliver suffering from premature senility as opposed to plain stupidity?

    And what are we to make of the relative silence from the bods infesting the Palace of Westminster about it? Do they think it quite normal and perfectly acceptable behaviour for the mad house of political soaps?

  10. Robert Carnegie Silver badge

    So it's not a cover for passing documents to an agent of an enemy power then?

    Such as News International?

  11. Andus McCoatover
    Windows

    This is just fuc*king surreal...

    I'm having a problem getting my jaw off the floor, so amazed at this man's stupidity.

    Does he throw his bank statements in the bin, rather than keep them and shred last years (as we do)???

    Cheif Policy Officer?? My 15-year old would do a better job, for a lot less money.

    "Lunatics, Asylum, running" springs readily to mind.

  12. Winkypop Silver badge
    WTF?

    In the park!

    In the fucking park?

    1. Alfred 2
      Happy

      @Winkypop

      "In the fucking park?"

      Yup. That one.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Alternative explanation

      It was a dead letter drop for his Chinese handler.

  13. ColonelClaw
    Unhappy

    Depressing

    The quality of politicians in this country is just so utterly, depressingly low. Just when you thought it wasn't possible to be any worse than the last shower of shit, along comes this new bunch. How the hell is this country going to get anywhere in the foreseeable future?

    1. Sam Therapy
      Mushroom

      I did warn you all

      Cameron's Clowns would be no better than Brown's Buffoons. Anyone who thought otherwise needs taking to see a big dog.

  14. John P
    FAIL

    What a complete

    and total twat!

    Count the many things wrong with this:

    Dumping constituents personal details in public bins

    Dumping what I would classify as sensitive information in bins (but which according to our incredibly complacent Government was not sensitive).

    Dumping laws already mentioned by AC@19:32

    One man's irrelevant is another man's sensitive.

    I would never dump my own personal details in a public bin, let alone some one else's.

    Add this to the 'second-coming-of-Jesus' scale miracle that is Liam Fox still having a job and I really can't comprehend what planet these out-of-touch upper-class twonks are on!

    Fail of the scale only possible by the UK Government.

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