Text 37, 76 rader
Skriven 2005-02-27 06:18:54 av Stephen Hayes (5:7106/20.0)
Ärende: Privacy/Lunacy
======================
* Forwarded (from: GEN_BRITAIN) by Stephen Hayes using timEd/2 1.10.y2k.
* Originally from Jeff (8:8/2003) to All.
* Original dated: Fri Feb 25, 02:18

From: "Jeff" <jeffxxx@yahoo.com>

Off topic I know but after the recent exchange on Data Protection I found this
from The Edgware Times interesting.


Mistaken identity leads to months of misery

Driven mad: the one and only Christine June Mary Brown By Sophie Kummer
When Christine Brown changed her address on her driving licence, she noticed
the duplicate came back mistakenly showing three penalty points on her
previously unblemished record. She thought it could be cleared up with a single
phone call how wrong she was.
Five months on, the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) is refusing to
clear Mrs Brown's licence unless she can prove that she is not the Mrs
Christine June Brown who picked up the points two years ago. But at the same
time, the courts are refusing to send the information about the three penalty
points which were recorded two years ago by a Christine June May Brown because
the data protection act prevents Mrs Brown (Christine June Mary Brown) from
accessing evidence about somebody else, even though the DVLA maintains they are
the one-and-the-same person.
And in this most ridiculous of classic Catch-22 situations, Mrs Brown cannot
prove she has a clean licence, because the courts only keep records on people
who have penalty points. Mrs Brown, 54, of Thornton Road, Barnet, is beginning
to wonder if she is a victim of identity fraud and will just have to accept it.
"It's a chicken and egg situation," she said. "What the DVLA wants is for me to
prove it wasn't me, but I can't prove that, because I didn't do it; it's not my
information. This is so ridiculous people find it funny, and it is an amazing
coincidence, but why is it taking them so long to sort it out? It sounds silly,
but the court and the DVLA aren't helping.
"The other Mrs Brown and myself are two different people as long as she's not
using my identity illegally." Mrs Brown, who was born on February 10, 1951,
drives three cars: a Micra, a Citroen and a small ambulance, for her work as a
warden in sheltered accommodation. Amazingly, the other Mrs Brown was born on
the same day, and, according to police records, lives in Melton Mowbray. She
has three fixed penalty points from an offence while driving a Mercedes. "The
only time I have had my licence out of my hands is when I sent it to the DVLA
in Swansea," said Mrs Brown. "When I first sent my licence to them in October,
to change my address, I got it back within five days. But my clean licence had
three penalty points. I thought it would be easily sorted out, until they told
me they couldn't do anything."
In her efforts to clear her name, Mrs Brown even got the police in
Stoke-on-Trent to examine police camera footage showing a lady in a Mercedes at
the time of the recorded penalty points August 8, 2003.
"All they have got to do is push a button and give me a clean licence," said
Mrs Brown. "I've been left in the lurch; if I have an accident now, my insurers
will laugh at me and refuse to pay it, because of these points. I'm the victim
here. I can see it's a unique situation, but I can also see how it happened.
But five months down the line, why can't they? This should never happen to
anyone else." Sir Sydney Chapman, who has been MP for Chipping Barnet since
1979, has taken the case in hand, and has written to the Transport Secretary
Alistair Darling to suggest he sort it out.
He said: "This combines the most ridiculous Catch 22 situation with the
greatest coincidence I've ever encountered in my long political career. "The
unique coincidence is that they were born on the same day. By my calculations,
only 2,500 to 2,750 babies in the UK could have been born on that particular
day and doubtless only an expert statistician can tell us what the odds are for
two people to be called by the same four names but for one letter in the same
order on the same day." A DVLA spokeswoman said: "As far as endorsements and
disqualifications are concerned, the role of the DVLA is one of record keeper,
acting in good faith on information supplied by courts of law. DVLA has no
authority to amend or remove valid offences without the express permission of
the court concerned. Notifications are transmitted from courts via electronic
link, without clerical intervention from DVLA staff.
"DVLA officials are in correspondence with your reader and with the court
concerned to attempt to resolve this matter as quickly as possible."

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