Yorkshire Post: Discs fiasco call charges 'rub salt into wound'

HM Revenue and Customs came under further attack last night for charging millions of people whose personal data it lost to call a helpline for advice.

HM Revenue and Customs came under further attack last night for charging millions of people whose personal data it lost to call a helpline for advice.

The Taxpayers' Alliance, which campaigns for lower taxes, said the use of an 0845 number was "rubbing salt into the wounds" of claimants.   

High demand would also result in callers being put on hold, increasing a total bill it estimated could run into millions of pounds.

Campaign director Mark Wallace said: "It is absolutely disgraceful that, having incompetently put 25 million people at risk of fraud and identity theft, HMRC now expects those affected to pay to phone the helpline.

"This scandalous failure has already caused a lot of anxiety and could yet cost people a great deal of money - making people pay for advice on securing personal data that should have been safe in the first place just rubs salt into the wound.

"The Government need to get their act together."   

But HMRC defended its decision to use an existing paid-for helpline and said anyone concerned about the cost could give their number and be called back.

A spokesman also insisted there was surplus capacity available to deal with increased call volumes.   

"We do not operate any free lines; it's a local rate number. If they are concerned about the cost we will take their number and call them back," he said.

An Ofcom spokeswoman said calling an 0845 number from a BT Option 1 Together package would cost around 3p per minute which is the same as dialling an 02 or 01 number.

But calls to 0845 numbers from mobile phones may be more expensive than calling a landline depending on which tariff is being used.

Calls to 0845 numbers may generate revenue for the recipient if the organisation chooses to take up that option.   

An HMRC spokeswoman said its 0845 number was the existing Child Benefit number which is charged at local rate and is not revenue-sharing.

The Ofcom spokeswoman said the telecoms regulator supported the use of 03 numbers by public service bodies because these have the same charges for calls from both landlines and mobile phones and do not have a revenue-sharing option.

A spokeswoman for the Ofcom Consumer Panel, an independent body which advises the telecoms regulator, said: "The Ofcom Consumer Panel, as distinct from Ofcom, has always said that all Government helpline numbers should be geographical and not revenue-generating."

The loss of the discs did not seem to have prompted panic in banks, with most reporting business as usual.   

The Nationwide's branch in Leeds said no customers had been in to ask about changing their account details.   

Heidi Riley from  Lloyds TSB in the city centre, however, said a number of people had been into the branch with concerns.   

"We've had lots of people in this morning - I've spoken to four already and I've had four colleagues working on this desk who I think have had about the same number. I expect we'll probably be inundated as the news spreads.

"Most of the people who have been in this morning have been elderly customers who won't be affected anyway, but they have been really worried about what might have happened to their personal details."