Complainants' details sent to waste firm

Personal details of residents who complained to the Environment Agency about a 40ft rubbish pile in sight of their homes were mistakenly sent to the firm ahead of a court case, it has been revealed.

Names, addresses and telephone numbers were not removed from documents handed to Refuse Derived Fuel Ltd and its directors.

Around 22 people who complained about the firm, in Moor Street, Brierley Hill, have been affected.

Environment Agency officials today said they had called each individual to apologise. Solicitors acting for the agency brought High Court proceedings against RDF Ltd, last week.

They applied to the court, sitting at Birmingham's Civil Justice Courts, for an injuction to stop more waste being brought onto the site.

But the two parties came to an agreement prior to the hearing for the pile to be lowered to a height of 26ft by June 15.

Brierley Hill Councillor Rachel Harris today said people would be "concerned" to hear of the incident. "I think that it is very regrettable and I do not want it to put people off coming forward to complain in the future," she added. "The Environment Agency have declared a breach of the data protection act. I can understand that people would be concerned by this. It took a great deal of courage for people to complain."

Environment Agency spokeswoman Jessica Campbell said as part of the court process evidence was sent to the firm and personal details had not been removed. "We take data protection extremely seriously, and are doing everything we can to prevent anything similar happening again," she added.