"Janet Baraclough .." wrote in
message ...
The message
from "David Hill" contains these
words:
the cost £55.00.
If you fail to register max fine £500.

Watch your step David..I'm not sure there is a fee. IIRC radio 4
talking about a rip-off scam from a company sending similar letters; the
unsuspecting victim filled in the form, returned it, and the scammers
forwarded it to the right place and pocketed the payment as their
"administration and advisory fee".

Janet

You are correct and I have been targeted by them myself.

I hold thousands and thousands of names and addresses of ex Service people.
I have 2000 names for the National Service (RAF) Association alone, 500 for
the H.M.S.Collingwood Association, 200 for the River Class Association, over
200 for the British Pacific Fleet Association plus Membership lists
containing hundreds of people who belong to other Associations where their
membership Secretaries have sent the lists, for my own personal use, when
trying to trace an old shipmate so I can reunite them.

I contacted the local Trading Standards Office who sent me a video and books
on the subject and then contacted the Data Protection Office.

In a nutshell, you DO need to register if your records are kept in such a
way that by pressing a button you can extract, and let me use my own
listings above to explain, "All men who were 19 - 21 when they joined the
Royal Navy between 1943 and 1953" or another one, "All men from Norwich who
joined the Royal Air Force between 1947 and 1960 under the 1947 National
Service Act"

or to relate it to a Gardening Club "All people who have been a member
between 1961 and 1991 who have won the 'Best Lettuce' Cup on more than one
occasion"

As I am unable to 'press the button' and no doubt most, if not all Gardening
Clubs, would be able to 'press the button', there is no need to register.

However, if your business is such that by pressing a button on your
computer, you can mail merge and send a letter to all of the Gardening Club
Members who have never won a prize in the last 10 Garden shows, then yes
registration might be for you, because you are automatically 'targeting a
section of your listings.

There is another aspect of the Data Protection Act which is quite
frightening. If you as the Secretary of a Gardening Club decide to gather
the names and addresses of all of the other Gardening Clubs in the country
and then sell that list to someone who will use it to market something, YOU
are in line for prosecution and the person you SELL IT TO is liable. I had a
case where someone tried to sell the names and addresses of all the
H.M.Ship's Association's Secretaries to Hotels to target them for reunions.
The Manager of one of the hotels I use a lot contacted me and now whenever a
likely list is printed in any of my magazines or publications, I print the
following:-

DATA PROTECTION ACT
These names and addresses are for the use of the Associations, their members
and prospective members. They are not to be copied in any way shape or form,
listed, sold, used, delivered, made available or marketed by a third person
for any reason whatsoever. R.N. Shipmates has not, does not, and will not
give permission for any use other than the direct use of Association
Members, Secretaries or prospective members as detailed above. Prosecution
of the 'collector', 'seller' and 'end user' may arise by contravening this
warning.

The person concerned ceased his activity immediately on my warning him.

Carry on Gardening Clubs, Little Theatre Groups, Under Water Formation
Dancing Teams, etc etc. The act is not targeted at you :-))

Hope that helps.

Mike