Covid: Worker fired for misusing test-and-trace details

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

A bus worker who sent "creepy" messages to a woman after getting her contact details from a test-and-trace form has been fired from the company.

Kat Kingsley, 25, from Hayle in Cornwall, went on the Original Tour bus in Windsor on 10 September.

Three days later she received two messages from a member of staff saying he wanted to see her.

A spokesman for the company said the employee had since been dismissed as a result of their investigation.

The company spokesman added the firm was also introducing a new system for test-and-trace, which meant personal data would be stored online and would not be accessible to staff.

Piece of paper

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.

Ms Kingsley said he later sent her text messages saying she had been "living in his head" and he admitted there was a risk to using "data that's not supposed to be for me".

Ms Kingsley described the messages as "creepy" and said she hoped his being fired would prevent others doing the same.

"He didn't resign, he went through the disciplinary process and I think he expected to keep his job but I got a call yesterday to say he had been fired," she said.

"I think it should teach him a lesson and hopefully deter anyone else who was considering breaching data [protection]."

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

The Original Tour spokesman said the company's managing director would be speaking to Ms Kingsley "to express to her our regret and apologies for the incident".

Test-and-trace launched in May in a bid to stop the spread of coronavirus.

The system is designed to be used to enable venues and services to contact people, using personal details given, if they may have come into contact with someone with Covid-19 while using their services.