fare dodgers and GDPR - what are the TOCs actually allowed to do?

[Tetchytyke]

I always found that particular case interesting because someone (in the TOC prosecutions dept?) clearly blabbed to the press, and his regulator about him.

That case always left me with a very sour taste in the mouth. The TOC gladly took his money and then someone- and, like you, I’d bet it was someone at the TOC- properly screwed him over once they’d cashed the cheque.

Indeed - to distinguish between genuine mistakes (which is what they are there for)

They’re not there for genuine mistakes, though. The TOCs have distorted them in this way- they’ve been given an inch and they’ve taken a mile- but they were never designed to be used for genuine mistakes. They were designed to be used for people who were evading fares.

 

[Adam Williams]

That case always left me with a very sour taste in the mouth. The TOC gladly took his money and then someone- and, like you, I’d bet it was someone at the TOC- properly screwed him over once they’d cashed the cheque.

And if I was in a regulated profession it'd certainly make me think twice about bothering playing the settlement game (given there's seemingly no privacy afforded to those who decide to pay up?) vs just trying to plead my case in court. I think courts have also previously shown themselves unwilling to entertain some of the silly figures that TOCs have come up with in the past.

 

[saismee]

They’re not there for genuine mistakes, though. The TOCs have distorted them in this way- they’ve been given an inch and they’ve taken a mile- but they were never designed to be used for genuine mistakes. They were designed to be used for people who were evading fares.

Unfortunately they just aren't a punishment for fare dodgers. They'll happily take 10+ penalty fares because they'll just give a fake name and disappear until caught again (likely after another 10 journeys). Without police involvement, or a requirement to carry ID, there isn't much that can be done with the intentional fare evaders (not talking about the doughnutters and discount misusers, but the ones who push barriers and never have a ticket).

 

[RailwayBear]

Could this then be the case with Parking tickets? Say u get a parking ticket in Tescos car park, the parking company lets say "euro car parks" then contact the DVLA to request the details on the owner of the car via the reg no! the dvla then gives them it, can we potentionally sue the DVLA for giving a third party our personal details without our consent?

Or

The Police!! Your stopped for a spot check and they run your name through the PNC and come back and say "you have done this and done that" is this a breach of GDPR regarding the information they hold for you

 

[Surreytraveller]

Could this then be the case with Parking tickets? Say u get a parking ticket in Tescos car park, the parking company lets say "euro car parks" then contact the DVLA to request the details on the owner of the car via the reg no! the dvla then gives them it, can we potentionally sue the DVLA for giving a third party our personal details without our consent?

Or

The Police!! Your stopped for a spot check and they run your name through the PNC and come back and say "you have done this and done that" is this a breach of GDPR regarding the information they hold for you

You've probably consented to DVLA giving out your details by having a driving licence or owning a car

 

[Watershed]

You've probably consented to DVLA giving out your details by having a driving licence or owning a car

You would have been told that your details might be processed in that way, but it's not something you would have to consent to since there are other lawful bases for the DVLA procesing the data.

Consent is the weakest form of lawful basis since it can be revoked at any time.

 

[bleeder4]

How is it any different to supermarkets who use facial recognition technology to keep track of prolific shoplifters? With ChatGPT these days you can actually upload a photo of someone, a screengrab from CCTV for example, and get it to scan through public LinkedIn and Facebook posts, as well as the Internet in general, to see if it can match the image to the person. So the old defence of saying "a photo of a face isn't personally identifiable" isn't even valid anymore. I think all of us would be surprised how much information about us is held by companies.