Neighbourhood complaints list found in bins

Published on Wednesday 1 November 2006 12:47

THE private details of more than 100 people whose complaints have sparked investigations into their alleged neighbours from hell have been found lying beside rubbish bins.

Jenny McGowan, 29, found the confidential list of names, addresses and phone numbers when she went to empty her bin at her flat in Chesser.

Some of those identified said they were furious that after finding the courage to come forward their details could have fallen into the wrong hands.

The council has launched an investigation and promised to take disciplinary action if anyone is found to be at fault.

The ten-page document listed investigations being carried out by the council's antisocial behaviour team as it gathered evidence for issuing Asbos, over the weekend of October 20-23. It also listed the home phone numbers of five of the investigating team.

Miss McGowan, a sales rep, found the papers on the floor of the bin stores at her block of flats in Chesser Crescent.

She said: "I was furious something like that could be lying on the ground. It's highly confidential information with people's home addresses and numbers and should have been shredded."

One of the men on the list, David Kelly, 42, said he had made a complaint about noisy neighbours who knew he had been in touch with the council.

He said: "I'm annoyed about this and will go up to the council office in Niddrie to ask them about it."

Others on the list, though, were angry and asked for their names to be withheld for fear of their neighbours' reaction.

One man, who said he had complained to the council about trouble associated with prostitution in his neighbourhood, said: "I'm outraged that we have put our neck on the line providing information and the council has not even warned us.

"Pimps or drug dealers could come across this information and think we are more involved than we are."

The council today apologised to those involved and promised to take any appropriate disciplinary action. Gordon Greenhill, head of community safety at the council, said: "The antisocial behaviour investigation team has a duty of confidentiality, and uses a secure system to manage and dispose of sensitive and confidential documents.

"The disappearance of this file is extremely regrettable and we apologise to anyone affected.

"We are investigating the incident and, if an officer is found to be at fault, there will be a full disciplinary investigation.

"In addition, we will take every step to ensure an incident of this nature does not happen again by reviewing our already robust systems to see whether procedures can be tightened up further. If anyone has any concerns about this incident, they are welcome to contact us on 0131-529 7050."

Police said the incident reinforced the importance of disposing of documents with sensitive information carefully.

A force spokesman said: "People should always be very careful if they are carrying about with them anything that might contain confidential information about other people and try to make sure they don't lose it.

Similarly, these items if they are being disposed of, should be done in the proper way such as shredding."