The UK Home Office who famously, this year, lost the personal details and bank account information for every child-benefit claimant in the country have now admitted that they have lost the personal details of (count them!) three-million driving test applicants.

But it gets better.

They weren’t lost in the UK, oh no, they were lost 7 months ago in Iowa in the United States of America!

You really couldn’t make it up; it appears that a hard drive in the (former) possession of Pearson Driving Assessments Ltd, a contractor for the DVLA, has gone missing from their Iowa offices.

Pearson Driving Assessments seems to be part of the Pearson company, an international manufacturer of educational materials and examinations. Quite what they wanted with the personal information of learner drivers though is anybody’s guess.

The data lost this time includes:

• Name
• Address
• Phone number
• Fee paid
• Test centre
• Payment code
• E-mail where provided

Futher to this, the details of about 7,500 vehicles and their owners were lost.

It would be interesting to know whether this transfer, to the United States, of data relating to British Nationals contravenes the 1998 Data Protection Act which states as Principal 8:

Personal data shall not be transferred to a country or territory outside the European Economic Area unless that country or territory ensures an adequate level of protection for the rights and freedoms of data subjects in relation to the processing of personal data.

It would seem exceptionally clear that an adequate level of protection has not been given to the rights of the citizens to not have their data lost in a foreign land.