January 28, 2022 6.03 pm This story is over 25 months old

Hundreds of parents’ addresses mistakenly leaked by Lincolnshire council

One man was sent more than 200 letters

A father was mistakenly mailed hundreds of addresses of parents with young children by North Lincolnshire Council.

The man received more than 200 letters intended for families with three-year-old children.

Instead of being sent separately to the correct addresses, all 208 letters were sent to his home.

They were all for parents with three-year-old children informing them they were eligible for funding, and had the intended addresses printed on them.

The North Lincolnshire dad is worried the details of so many people with young children could have accidentally ended up in the wrong hands.

He said: “I couldn’t believe that little kids’ information was sent out by mistake like this.

“I have two young girls, and I would hate to know that their information had been sent to someone else.

“The envelope was a huge package with my address on, so I assumed it was from work.

“I couldn’t believe when I opened it up and saw the identical letters with over 200 addresses on them.

“As soon as I realised what it was, I considered shredding it. In the end, I contacted North Lincolnshire Council to report it.

“How could a mistake like this happen? I dread to think if it has happened before.”

Letters with addresses of over 200 parents with three-year-old children were mistakenly sent to one home
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He has arranged to hand the letters back to North Lincolnshire Council to ensure that they are disposed of properly.

A spokesperson has promised that the way letters are posted has been changed to ensure it can’t happen again.

They said: “We take data protection very seriously and successfully send hundreds of thousands of letters each year.

“Changes have been made to the post system to ensure no such technical issues happen again and all the correspondence was eventually returned.”