Local Authority Exposes CV in Mass Internal Data Breach
High Street Solicitors are proficient at handling data breach claims. Data breaches are occurring each and every day, with a large portion of the public unaware that they can proceed with a data breach claim-and be compensated for it! We successfully recovered the sum of £1,500 for our client against a Local Authority, after they accidently emailed their entire staff with a copy of his CV (in excess of 500 individuals). A CV (curriculum vitae) withholds personal information about ones self, which makes a candidate different from the next. Our clients CV included sensitive information including the health details, personal …
Black Cab Collision Compensates Client £3,000
We successfully recovered the sum of £3,000 for our client; following a collision with a black Hackney cab in August 2020. Liability was initially in dispute with the other driver, who was blaming our client for the collision. Acting on behalf of our client, we sought further evidence to ensure our client was not to blame in this situation. We were able to source CCTV footage from a nearby public house, which confirmed the Hackney driver to be at fault. This evidence led to the success of our clients claim. Our client was thrilled with the outcome, commenting: “Justice has …
Tenant of East Midlands Housing Association Compensated £2,000
High Street Solicitors have successfully achieved settlement in the sum of £2,000.00, for a tenant of a social housing provider, in a housing disrepair claim against East Midlands Housing Association. The tenant contacted High Street Solicitors after he had been ignored by his landlord who refused to repair the defective windows and severe cracks to the walls of the property. The landlord had also failed to repair issues of damp and mould within the property, despite the tenant reporting these issues on numerous occasions over the last three years. The landlord failure to repair these issues had caused the tenant …
Client wrongly referred to a debt collector by utility company, wins data breach claim
Here at High Street Solicitors, we have been notified that large utility companies are wrongly referring customers to debt collection agencies. In response to clients questioning this action, the utility company usually sends a letter of apology along with a goodwill gesture cheque; which can be as little as £30 for the inconvenience they have caused for their wrong doing. We where recently instructed to handle a data breach claim in this instance.The clients personal details where disclosed unlawfully to a third party debt collection company, without the clients consent. Our client had received numerous letters from the debt collection …
The Fight Against Pension Scammers
Did you know pension scam victims lose an average of £91,000? This jaw dropping figure comes from the FCA and The Pensions Regulation and this is the devastating reality for the many who fall victim to the scam each year in the UK. Campaigners are pushing for government action to get legislation in place to change the Online Harms Bill which aims to make the digital world far safer, combating the issue at the source. The government have said they intend to introduce the new legislation quickly however things are likely to be put on hold due to Covid-19 and …
18,000 Coronavirus Patient Details Published & 13,000 Wrongly Advised To Shield
Public Health Wales confirmed that the personal data of over 18,000 people who tested positive for coronavirus was published. The information exposed was accessible on a public basis for 20 years on 30th August itgovernance.co.uk reported. The data that was exposed for this length of time was in most cases, personal details such as: patients’ initials, dates of birth, geographical area, and gender. Although this could be classed as low risk exposure, the exposure should never have come to light in the first place, which the Public Health Wales apologised for. The little information provided, still could lead to a …
Shopify Data Breach
Shopify is an e-commerce platform to build websites and sell products online. Shopify is an international platform universal for all products types and payment methods. The data breach was highlighted this year and announced that two ‘rogue members’ of its support team; stole customer data from over 100 merchants that are registered and use Shopify to service their clients. The breach become a worldwide announcement as high profile online stores such as ‘Victoria Beckham’ and American brand ‘Kylie Cosmetics’ made their customers aware that some of their consumers data had been stolen via the data breach. The data in question …
British Airways Data Breach
Airline British Airways has been scrutinised by the ICO (Information Commissions Office) for breaching personal data of over 500,000 members of the public who utilised their website. According to Sky News the airline boss of BA is set to face a fine in excess of £183 million. BA will be penalised under the Data Protection Act 2018, with the fine calculated by a percentage of their worldwide turnover. The breach occurred via cyber hackers which diverted onsite BA traffic; to a fraudulent website to harvest their credentials for illegal capture and use. Personal details such as: Names, Addresses, Bank card …
£7,400 Japanese Knotweed Settlement – Swansea
Our Japanese Knotweed client Mrs L, has lived in her property for a number of years in Swansea with her husband. The couple brought their two children up here over the years. After the loss of Mrs L’s husband, the property was put into all parties’ names, Mrs L and her two children. Japanese knotweed had been a persistent issue for Mrs L, with the encroachment worsening each year after each seasons vast growth. Attempts to highlight the knotweed issues where raised on numerous occasions to the housing association, who own the land where the knotweed originated from. To no …
Social Landlord Compensates Tenant with £2,000
This week, High Street Solicitors successfully won a case at Trial for one of their clients against a Social Landlord. The court imposed terms on the Landlord that they are to carry out various works to the tenant’s property, in order to bring it back to a legally acceptable standard. In addition, the Landlord is ordered to pay the tenant compensation of £2,000, for the period of time that she has lived in disrepair, affecting her enjoyment of the property. Such works are to be completed within 56 days, as ordered by the court. Despite High Street’s client reporting disrepair …
Mental Health Worker Awarded £16,000
Our client was a Mental Health nurse who worked for one the UK’s largest independent health care providers that cared for patients who have mental health problems, learning difficulties and brain injuries. Our client was asked to help restrain a distressed patient, when she was attacked and pulled to the floor by the patient. Such force made our client land heavily on her left side, which followed with immediate pain. Our client attended hospital where scans revealed an injury to the scapho-lunate ligament as well as a tear and perforation in the cartilage ligament; which required surgery to remove reactive …
£6,000 compensation received from housing association, obtained within four months
This week, High Street Solicitors have successfully achieved settlement for a tenant in a housing disrepair claim brought against her housing association. The Housing association have agreed to carry out the repair works and pay the client compensation in excess of £6.000.00. High Street Solicitors were contacted by the client after her housing association repeatedly ignored her reporting of a lack of heating, ongoing leaks withing the property and a continuous problem with damp and mould in the property. After over 3 years of unsuccessful battles with her housing association the client contacted High Street Solicitors who successfully concluded the …
MOD compensates British Soldier £37,000 for sustaining injuries from inside barracks
This was a claim against the Ministry of Defence. The client was serving in the British Army and living in barracks located in the UK. He was subject to bullying and taunting from other soldiers in his barracks, his kit was regularly ransacked and videos were posted to Facebook by senior officers of the bullying, whom did not help him or prevent future attacks from occurring. Our client received numerous taunts by his fellow soldiers examples of these are; being forced to drink a pint of urine, repeatedly tied up and forced under the water of a bath tub, limiting …
Successful recovery of £85,000 for mis sold pension transfer
Our client who was on long term sickness from his employment at the time, received advice from an independent financial advisor ‘Omega Financial Solutions Limited’, to invest his pension into a Qualifying Recognised Overseas Pension Scheme (QROPS) with Castle Trust & Management Services Limited. The sum of £77,716.97 was transferred from the client’s existing pensions that he had built up with Royal Mail and from his time in the Armed Forces, to Castle Trust. After fees were deducted the sum of £65,758.00 was invested into the following investments; Aspiro Research, Consilium, Disruptive Technology and Energy 10, the majority of which …
Berkeley Burke latest update; recovering an interim payment of over £29,000
In 2012 our client was approached by an unregulated firm, namely Marcus James/PLS Money Ltd for a pension review. The firm financially promoted the idea of the client transferring his pension into a SIPP with Berkeley Burke. The client had a pension plan with Aviva with a transfer value of £38,564.94. The pension was transferred to Berkeley Burke to facilitate an investment in Global Forestry Investments. The investment subsequently failed. Berkeley Burke negligently accepted the investment as part of its Self-Invested Pension Plan portfolio, and invested the client’s full pension into such a high risk investment. The sum of £26,650.00 …
July Japanese Knotweed Settlement in excess of £10,000
Our most recent Japanese Knotweed settlement resulted in a claim that was worth in excess of £10,000 for our client. The defendant in this circumstance is National Rail; which to us here at High Street is the most common ground for Japanese Knotweed growth. Such plant has a tenancy to grow from such land occupied by National Rail. The surrounding areas of the land tends to not be well kept; which therefore gives such plant like Japanese Knotweed freedom to grow untouched. The growth of this plant in question, is substantial. Each year the plant spreads the more damage it …
£10,000 recovered for Widow
Our client Mr A, contacted High Street Solicitors in 2018, confirming that he had suffered detrimental injuries whilst being admitted in hospital. Mr A was a local client of ours in Liverpool and had been admitted to an NHS hospital following an accident at home where he fell down the stairs. Whilst admitted in hospital, Mr A underwent investigations which included a CT scan of his head and x-rays and as a result, no injuries were identified but Mr A remained in hospital. A day later since being admitted, Mr A attempted to get out of his hospital bed and …
Police Officer receives £26,000 for bicycle incident
Mr J, a Police officer from Kent was involved in a serious accident whilst on his bicycle. The defendant was coming from the oncoming direction and suddenly turned right and across the path of Mr J. Our client suffered a fractured vertebra and required extensive rehabilitation, but thankfully made a full recovery from his injuries. The incident left our client unable to work for a period of time and had led to our client to seek counselling for the mental trauma the incident had endured; learning new coping mechanisms and techniques to help during anxious times, especially when cycling again. …
£85,000 recovered against Omega Financial Solutions LTD
Our client Ms K, took advice from an independent financial advisor at ‘Omega Financial Solutions Limited’, to invest her pension into a Qualifying Recognised Overseas Pension Scheme (QROPS) with Castle Trust & Management Services Limited. At the time Ms K was a Support worker for East Riding Council, and had built up a significant pension during her time of service. After completion of the QROPS application forms, the sum of £104,626.62 was transferred from Ms K’s existing pension with the Council, to Castle Trust. Numerous high risk investments were made, namely: Energy 10 Aspiro Research Consilium British Land & Property …
Social housing tenant living in a home with an excess of £30,000 worth of disrepair
High Street Solicitors have recently won a case for a tenant of a social Landlord. The tenant had been living in damp and mouldy conditions, as well as draughty windows. This had a major negative effect on the tenant’s life, making him depressed and embarrassed to have anyone visit his home in this condition. The tenant had been reporting the disrepair to his Landlord since 2010, yet they failed to take any action on the repair work that was required. As a result of the Landlord’s refusal to do any works, the tenant contacted High Street Solicitors in December 2018 …
Toe amputation results in £55,000 compensation for our client
Our client, at the time of the incident was working as a machine operator within a medium sized firm. Our client had been employed by the firm for many years, working a full time role, operating in shift patterns, handling machinery on a daily basis. On the day of the incident, our client was operating machinery within the firm. Alongside our client, a colleague was working with another piece of machinery which acted as a ‘crusher’. This piece of machinery was an electronically operated piece of equipment; which at the time was being remotely handled by the work colleague. Unfortunately …
Care home worker suffers a data breach from colleagues, obtaining £2,500 in compensation
High Street Solicitors has successfully obtained Mr S £2,500 in compensation due to a breach of his personal information. Mr S, was at the time performing agency work within a care home. The usual process for providing businesses with agency staff; is to forward on any potential CV’s to the employer in order to perform interviews and to keep on file. In this circumstance, Mr S’s CV was displayed on a notice board within a locked office in the care home. The notice board was visible from the door due to a window; which allowed anyone to view Mr S’s …
Why do we trust large companies when it comes to Data Breaches?
Data Breaches are becoming a very common area of law, which is continuing to develop and adapt with new technologies. A Data Breach is when personal and private information is exposed to third parties without consent; the information can be viewed and transmitted in many formats. The claims one can make are as follows: Identity theft to commit crimes such as credit card fraud Purposely lose important data Third party gains access to personal information without consent Company data leaks Personal information used for journalism purposes without consent The above points highlight the areas and differences a Data Breach can …
Social Housing Landlord Admits Liability During COVID’19
The Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 sets out a minimum standard of repairing obligations which landlords of Assured Shorthold Tenants must comply with in England & Wales. Furthermore, the Defective Premises Act 1972 and newly introduced Fitness for Human Habitation Act 2018 impose further standards to ensure that rented properties are free from unsafe, unhealthy or harmless defects. Due to the current pandemic, routine repairs within social and council housing had been brought to a halt due to the government guidelines of social distancing and lockdown measures; unless works where for emergency purposes. During the latter end of May 2020, …
COVID’19 App Poses Data Breach Threat
The Covid’19 tracing app has been introduced to log social interactions based on user’s assessments, of their current infection risk status; which they would upload onto the app itself. According to Tech Crunch the app already lacks robust legal safeguards against data misuse. There are concerns surrounding the apps data collation, with emphasis on the protections and guarantees of safety the app will envisage usage of, via the data the public will input. Legal Futures states that the Covid’19 app used in the Netherlands, recently suffered a Data Breach in April 2020. The rushed action of the app creation resulted …
Japanese Knotweed settlement obtaining £6,500 for our client
The real aim in Japanese Knotweed cases is to ensure treatment of the plant; which will thereafter make a clients property mortgage-able again to prospective potential purchases in the future; preventing further harm and stigma to ones land if not resolved. Treatment costs to eradicate Japanese Knotweed are invaluable to the client to treat the plant to prevent growth. The treatment costs for Japanese Knotweed should include a 10 year back guarantee; which would enable the client to sell/remortgage the property more freely than prior to none treatment circumstances. For our client in question, they had previously had another firm …
NORTH WEST FRONT LINE KEY WORKER LIVING IN APPALLING COUNCIL HOUSE CONDITIONS IN MANCHESTER
Our client is a tenant of a Housing Association who is currently suffering from Disrepair to her property she took over from her parent in 2019. Although her landlord is fully aware of these issues within the property prior to her taking over the tenancy; they have continued to ignore the safety concerns and repairs our client has raised for a long period of time. Our client has lived in this property for many years, with it being passed through the generations, the memories are the only thing that has kept her in the property for so long. We were …
High Street Solicitors – Contingency Statement on COVID-19
High Street Solicitors are resolutely devoted to delivering our services to the highest possible standard, without putting the health and wellbeing of our colleagues, clients or suppliers and stakeholders at risk. At a time when uncertainty is growing over the pandemic of COVID-19 (Coronavirus), we are acutely aware of the need of engaging with our clients to create a guarantee that the right procedures are in place to ensure the safe continuance of the business. We have a business continuity policy in place which plans for a variety of potential business continuity incidents, including the impact of pandemic illness. The …
CURRYS DATA BREACH
Thanks to @EquilibriumRisk for highlighting this issue on Twitter recently from the Edinburgh News. To view the article in full follow this link: http://bit.ly/36Zlbtw UK renowned firms, have been at the height of data breach criticism. According to the Edinburgh News the malware was installed onto ‘5,390 tills at the company’s Currys PC World and Dixons Travel stores.’ Sensitive data was exposed by the hackers, which exposed general name and address information. However, the malicious malware discovered by the ICO was able to expose individuals credit check information too with regards to failed credit. The article states that at present …
GRINDR DATA BREACH
This was a great read that was shared on Twitter this week via @HopewiserLtd. Find out more here: http://bit.ly/2tjgpbz To begin with, for those of you that may not be aware of the app ‘Grindr’, Grindr is a social networking site that is downloaded and used most commonly by, from what Grindr states: ‘for gay, bi, trans, and qu**r people.’ Since 2009 Grindr has become one of the most accessed apps on a worldwide basis. The app focusses on a location-based approach for users to connect with one another locally, setting perimeters of those using Grindr within a set location …
