AN EMBARRASSING blunder by the district council has led to confidential information about men applying for taxi licences being published on its website, in a move which the Government says could put them at risk of identity theft.

National insurance numbers, addresses, phone numbers, photographs, driving licence information, criminal convictions and other personal details of five men due to go before a private committee meeting were all splashed on Epping Forest District Council's official website for two days after a “computer error".

The Guardian alerted officers to the mistake when we discovered the private details yesterday afternoon (Wednesday), but by this morning the council had still failed to contact the men affected.

The authority has now apologised and pledged to carry out a full investigation.

One of the men, Dean Wiseman, of Loughton, said he was stunned when the Guardian broke the news to him that his private details had been published.

He said: “I didn't know anything about it at all.

“It's a bit nasty.”

Mr Wiseman, who is a driver for Essex taxi firm VIP Cars, is already a serving driver but has had to have his licence reviewed by the council after he was fined for speeding earlier this year.

A spokesman for the council said: “We have made a mistake here and obviously we're apologising to everyone in this case.

“[Our] people did their best to get it taken down from the website as quickly as they could, and we are in the process of talking to the people involved and explaining to them what happened.”

A spokeswoman for the Government's Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) said the details had the potential to put the men at risk of fraud.

She said: "The ICO takes breaches of individuals' privacy very seriously.

"Any organisation which processes personal information must ensure that adequate safeguards are in place to keep that information secure.

"This is an important principle of the Data Protection Act. Failure to protect personal details adequately, such as national insurance numbers, could lead to information falling into the wrong hands.

"Individuals who feel their personal information has not been handled in compliance with the Data Protection Act can contact the ICO for advice and guidance.”

Epping Forest District Council is expected to comment further later.

The meeting to decide whether the men should be approved licences is to be held next Thursday (December 3), in a meeting the public and press will be banned from because of the confidential information involved.