Salesman fined for taking client records to new job

A salutary warning has been given to sales people who move from one employer to another in the same industry that they cannot take confidential sales information with them.

Telford Magistrates’ Court fined Mark Lloyd, who worked at Acorn Waste Management Ltd in Shropshire, £300 for breaching s 55 of the Data Protection Act by emailing the details of nearly 1,000 clients to his personal email address as he was leaving to start a new role at a rival company.

The documents contained personal information including the contact details and purchase history of customers and commercially sensitive information.

Lloyd pleaded guilty to unlawfully obtaining data and, in addition to the £300 fine, was ordered to pay a victim surcharge of £30 and £405.98 costs.

Steve Eckersley, head of enforcement at the Information Commissioner’s Office, said that taking client records containing personal information to a new job, without permission, was a criminal offence.

He added: “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.”

Unlawfully obtaining or accessing personal data is a criminal offence under s 55 of the Data Protection Act 1998.

Most sales peoples’ contracts will also contain restrictive covenants, entitling their former employers to pursue them for civil damages if it can be shown that they have taken customer data with them.