Bus worker contacted Hayle woman 'using test-and-trace data'

Kat Kingsley said she would be wary of giving her details out again

A woman said she was sent "creepy" messages by a city bus tour worker who got her details from her test-and-trace form.

Kat Kingsley, 25, from Hayle in Cornwall, went on the Original Tour bus in Windsor on Thursday.

On Sunday she received two messages from a member of staff at the company saying he wanted to see her.

Original Tour said it had launched an investigation as it "takes the matter extremely seriously".

As she got on the bus, Ms Kingsley said she gave her name and phone number to a staff member, who wrote them on a piece of paper as part of the NHS Test and Trace system.

Three days later she received text messages from the man that said she had been "living in his head" and he admitted "knowing all the risk involved in using data that's not supposed to be for me".

The messages were sent using the phone number Miss Kingsley had provided for the test-and-trace form

Ms Kingsley said she was "in shock" when she received the messages.

"I just sort of stared at the messages trying to figure it out. It seems like a small thing when you first look at it, but when you look into it you realise it's much bigger."

She described the messages as "so creepy" and said they left her "weirded out".

'Unacceptable'

Ms Kingsley urged people to be cautious as she said the system was "not very safe" and "needs re-evaluating".

"Now I don't think I will give my details over again. I'm going to be wary of everywhere else," she said.

Original Tour said if the incident was "proven from our investigation, this is totally unacceptable" and it would take appropriate action.

"It goes against the values of our organisation entirely," the spokesman said.

A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: "The unauthorised use of customers' information provided for contact tracing is unacceptable and every business must comply with all data protection legislation."