A 72 year old grandmother was sent personal identification documents belonging to a stranger by the gaffe prone SIA, only to be told that she would have to pay for them to be posted back to the SIA, as revealed by the Bolton News. Earlier this month, Daphne Powell received a parcel marked with her name and address on the outside. However, upon opening the package Mrs Powell soon discovered that a grave mistake had been made as the contents were all personal documents belonging to a Christian Jouault, including his SIA application form. These documents had been sent to the SIA whose job it is to carry out the necessary checks on all who apply to work in the security industry. Their personal and confidential nature means that they are sent out with couriers and signed for but on this occasion the inside envelope was addressed to house in the street, one which is said to have been empty for months.
Mrs Powell commented: “I couldn’t believe it when I found all these personal documents. Fortunately for him and the agency, I am a responsible person but imagine if they got into the wrong hands. They need to be more careful with personal information like this.” However, the mistakes did not end here. When Mrs Powell contacted the SIA to report their error, she was told that she would have to pay to have the documents sent back by recorded delivery. Mrs Powell continues: “I am not prepared to send it back to them as it is nothing to do with me. I told them if they brought it to my house they should come and collect it. Whoever this person is is waiting for all his personal documents to be returned to him and they should do it as quickly as possible.”
Regarding this matter, a spokesman for the SIA said: “We apologise for the error that has been made and have subsequently arranged for the courier to collect and redeliver the documents to the correct addressee. With regards to the advice given to Mrs Powell by our contact centre, we are in the process of investigating and shall take appropriate action with the individual concerned, if and where necessary. The error was administrative and has been addressed with all staff at our Document Handling Centre in order to ensure that there is no future recurrence.”