I WAS interested to read ‘Mr Wilson’s’ experience of receiving confidential data about a third party from City of York Council (The Press, February 15).

I have had similar experiences with the Joseph Rowntree Foundation. My recent experience resulted in the personal data about JRF Trustees, staff and contractors (including their home and mobile numbers, personal email addresses, home addresses) being disclosed to me.

I alerted the director, Julia Unwin, about this only to receive correspondence from JRF solicitors informing me they were compliant with the Data Protection Act 1998 and they had the permission of the people involved to let me have their personal details.

I contacted some of the trustees and contractors from the details provided by the JRF only to receive correspondence from the JRF solicitors about my responsibilities under the Data Protection Act 1998.

Organisations should take their safeguarding of personal data seriously without projecting their frustrations about poor practices on to the recipients. It’s our data that is at risk. As recent Press articles by Richard Catton have shown, these breaches can result in real concerns for innocent third parties.

If organisations acted in accordance with the rights of data subjects, these regrettable disputes and entanglements would not arise.

Name and address supplied.