Mark Lloyd, who was formerly an employee of Acorn Waste Management Ltd in Shropshire, emailed the details of 957 clients to his personal email address as he was preparing to leave the company to start a new job “with a rival company”, according to the Information Commissioner’s Office, which brought the case to court.
He appeared at Telford Magistrates’ Court on Thursday, 26 May and pleaded guilty to unlawfully obtaining data. Mr Lloyd was prosecuted under section 55 of the Data Protection Act.
The former Acorn employee was fined £300, ordered to pay a victim surcharge of £30 and £405.98 costs.
Documents
According to the Information Commissioner’s Office, the documents transferred by Mr Lloyd contained personal information, including the contact details and purchase history of customers and commercially sensitive information.
Unlawfully obtaining or accessing personal data is a criminal offence under section 55 of the Data Protection Act 1998. The offence is punishable by a way of a fine.
Following the prosecution, Steve Eckersley, head of enforcement at the Information Commissioner’s Office, said: “Taking client records that contain personal information to a new job, without permission, is a criminal offence.
“Employees need to be aware that documents containing personal data they have produced or worked on belong to their employer and are not theirs to take with them when they leave. Don’t risk a day in court by being ignorant of the law.”
Mr Lloyd left Acorn Waste Management in December 2015, according to his personal Linkedin account.
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