Personal data found in recycling

The personal details of 60 people from Worcestershire who took part in surveys about oven chips have been found in a recycling bin.

A woman raised the alarm after finding the names, addresses and phone numbers at a recycling plant in Surrey.

Ellie Kidd, from Kidderminster, who was among those on the questionnaires, said it was an "astonishing" breach.

Margeret Everitt, who produced the forms, said an agency had been sub-contracted to shred the details.

'It's wrong'

Ms Kidd demanded an apology from the company who dumped her personal details in a bin and said she had been assured they would be shredded when she took part in the survey in June.

"You worry for your own safety and the safety of the children and things," she said.

"And for a lady to have found all of my details and be able to pass them on and to be contacted is astonishing and it's wrong."

Margaret Everitt said she had helped produce the questionnaires and to collate and distribute them, but an agency was sub-contracted to run the fieldwork.

She said she was "horrified" the details had not been destroyed which should "just not have happened".

"This information should have been shredded," she said.

"And we subcontracted an agency who should know that this is what should have been done under the market research code of conduct."