‘Outrage’ in Mansfield and Ashfield after personal records of hundreds of residents found dumped in bin

The documents belong to a quick cash loan company called Morsesclub, who merged together with Shopacheck Financial Services Limited in March.

Among the documents found in Sutton, were customers’ personal details, along with their financial details, of those who have used the loan company.

The personal details include names, addresses and contact numbers, and the financial information includes weekly payment records.

They were dropped off at the Chad offices earlier in the week by an irate reader who had discovered them in the bin.

The documents have now been passed on to the Information Commission Office (ICO), who have confirmed that they are investigating the matter,

An ICO spokesperson said: “We’re grateful to the Mansfield Chad for making us aware of this, and we will now be making further enquiries.”

“The Data Protection Act requires organisations to have appropriate security to prevent the personal data they hold being accidentally or deliberately compromised. That includes considering how data can be securely destroyed.”

Among the victims of this careless ploy, is Glynn Stevens from Sutton, who has spoke of his outrage at the ‘lack of care’ taken by Morsesclub.

He said, “I feel completely let down.

“You hear about this sort of thing on the news a lot and quite frankly anybody could take my details and forged them.

“I’m disgusted, it’s completely unprofessional of them, and I won’t go anywhere near them ever again.”

Mansfield victim Pauline Richards of Kay Road, has described it as a ‘disgrace’.

She said. “It’s beyond me.

“It’s a complete disgrace, and let’s face it - anything could have been written on those forms,

“I’m going to be getting on to them immediately. I’m shocked and I’ve lost all my faith in them now.”

Morsesclub offer cash loans between £100 and £1,000, and run a weekly payback system for their customers.

They have an interest rate of 70 percent, and a 446.4 annual percentage rate.

They operate a ‘doorstep lending’ system, where an ‘agent’ will come to your door each week to collect their weekly payback instalments.

Ian Cooper, risk and compliance director for Morsesclub, said: “We are unaware of this matter, and their must have been a break down in the system somewhere.

“We will be carrying out an investigation in to what has happened.”

Mansfield and Ashfield’s MP’s, Sir Alan Meale and Gloria De Piero, have spoken of their dismay at what has happened, and insist that their people deserve ‘honesty’.

Sir Alan said: “It’s disgraceful that something like this can happen.

“This is certainly a matter for the law, and this company should pay a heavy price, if not be closed down completely.

“Our people deserve to have all their private information taken care of when putting their trust in to such a company, and I can imagine they feel very aggravated at what has happened.

Gloria added: “It’s completely irresponsible for a company to behave in this way and dispose of people’s names, addresses, numbers and payment details like this. This should not be allowed to happen. I have immediately written to Morsesclub to demand that they personally contact everyone they know who has been affected and apologise and I’m also seeking an assurance that this is the only bag like this in existence.”