BUNGLING Poole council has sent an “ID theft gift pack” containing reams of private information to the wrong person – twice!

Following the shocking revelation that a package containing a birth certificate, bank statements, pay slip and tenancy agreement belonging to a couple had been sent in error to the wrong woman, a second such blunder has emerged.

The Echo was contacted by great-grandmother Pamela Whitton who said she too had received a package, addressed to, her but filled with a stranger’s personal documents, from Benefits Services at Borough of Poole.

Incredibly this shameful error happened weeks before the case reported in Saturday’s Echo – when the council insisted it took “protection of individual’s personal data very seriously” and had “robust policies and procedures” in place.

“Certainly they didn’t learn their lesson [from my case],” said Mrs Whitton. “It makes you very very worried about sending anything now.”

She received a Poole man’s bank statements and utility bills, and a document containing details of his partner’s change of name – complete with signatures. It also contained an application relating to his children – including their names.

As in the other case, Mrs Whitton shared nothing in common with the unlucky individual whose documents she received.

She had contacted the council with a query – and had no documents of her own due to be returned.

The 90-year-old of Princess Road, Poole, said when she called the Borough of Poole they told her to put the documents in the post. She refused, and a council worker eventually picked them up – almost a week later.

“It terrible to think about what can happen to your stuff,” she said. “Imagine if it fell into the hands of someone who wanted to make use of it – who knows – maybe other ones have fallen into the wrong hands.”

Paul Hudson, head of benefits, Borough of Poole, said: “We are sorry that these two incidents have occurred.”

He said the council dealt with 30,000 items of post of this kind each year and mistakes were rare. They were reviewing postal operations “to ensure everything possible is done to avoid such incidents happening in the future.”