The Guardian published an exclusive report on Friday, revealing that Transport for London (TfL) has fined thousands of EU drivers after illegally obtaining their personal information in what is said to be a massive data breach. I made it.
The report details that the breach was discovered by Belgian Member of Parliament Michael Freilich. Under current post-Brexit data protection rules, personal data does not have to be shared for non-criminal offenses and the UK government is prohibited from automatically accessing EU nationals’ data. From 2021, EU nationals will be subject to hefty fines of up to £2,000 per day if they visit London and drive in an ultra-low emission zone (Urez), Freilich newspaper reported. Under current Urez rules, drivers who do not meet vehicle standards must pay £12.50 per day to drive in an Urez zone. Non-UK vehicles must be registered with her Ulez partner 10 days before entering the city.
“Ures primarily targets large heavy commercial vehicles,” Freilich said, but family car drivers are also facing exorbitant fines. Mr Freilich said he had filed a Freedom of Information request with the Belgian Motor Vehicle Licensing Authority, which revealed that TfL partner Europarking had been denied access to Belgian drivers’ personal information and data. Stated. However, it “employed local court bailiffs to access its database more than 26,000 times and passed drivers’ names and addresses to Euro Parking.” He clarified that although driver details can be obtained when enforcing criminal court decisions, the data cannot legally be shared with UK companies.
Belgium is not the only EU member state affected by TfL’s allegations of illegal data collection and the Urez fine. The Guardian has revealed that more than 100 drivers have filed a lawsuit in France “claiming that their details were fraudulently obtained”. Five EU countries have so far formally accused TfL of data breaches.
Commenting on the breach, TfL said: “Local law permitted authorities to share vehicle owner information with the UK to enforce traffic regulations.” EU countries argue that this regulation only applies to criminal offenses and that failure to register a vehicle under Ulez constitutes a civil offense.
