Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Highland Council accused of ‘unlawfully’ hoarding personal information stored in car park smart meters

Post Thumbnail

Highland Council has been accused of “unlawfully” hoarding personal information entered into smart meters at several of its car parks.

The meters, which are in service in Inverness, Fort William and Fort Augustus and are being rolled out across the north, require users to enter their car registration number.

The data, along with credit card numbers, is sent to America and then stored on a database for 12 months.

One concerned motorist, Anna Courtney, believes the council should review the policy.

The Lochailort woman said: “When parking it is required for you to enter your registration number to obtain a parking ticket.

“This information is processed by a company called IPS Group of San Diego, America.

“Very recently the European Court of Human Rights has ruled that bulk collection of personal data is unlawful.

“It is my understanding that permission must be sought from the data owner to acquire and store that information. Furthermore, the information should be deleted at the request of the owner.

“Clearly at the moment this is not happening as the Highland Council is collecting data surreptitiously and without the data owner’s permission.

“I would suggest that the current operation of these meters is unlawful.”


>> Keep up to date with the latest news with The P&J newsletter


The IPS privacy policy states: “Please note that in order to offer our services, your personal data will be transferred to the United States of America and to certain merchant service providers for processing.

“We freely share your information within the IPS group of companies.”

A spokeswoman for Highland Council stressed that the information was used to ensure that people did not abuse free parking offers.

She said: “We upgraded the machines in Lochaber to provide more services to the public, including contactless card payments and a free 30-minute period per customer per day and also the ability to recover parking receipts for 12 months after parking.

“All transactions are stored for 12 months and then automatically deleted. The data is not used for any other purpose.

“The registration is required to control possible abuse of the free 30 minute period. The vehicle registration also ensures maximum stays are adhered to.”

One man who was parking in Fort William yesterday expressed some concern at the practice.

Mark Jones said: “There is nowhere on this machine that tells you my details are being kept. I don’t think that is on.”

The IPS group declined to comment.