News

A TRAVEL agent who took what he thought were his own clients to his new agency has been ordered to pay £2,600 or face a three-month jail sentence.

In what has been billed as a landmark case, Zbigniew Soltysik is the first travel industry employee to have fallen foul of the Data Protection Act, which prohibits employees taking databases from companies when they leave.

He pleaded guilty at Nottingham Crown Court to 26 counts of unauthorised disclosure of personal data. Soltysik faces three months in prison if he misses a payment.

The Information Commission, which brought the case, said the sentence should serve as a warning to agents.

Its solicitor Mark Thorogood said: “The fine reflects how seriously the court takes the matter and should be a lesson to anyone else who thinks about doing this. Clearly, given Soltysik is bankrupt, the court is restricted to how much it can realistically fine someone.”

However, Soltysik claimed he was “unlucky” and called for clearer guidelines on what employees can and can’t do. “If a person works in an agency for 10 years they build up their customer base. If they then work for another agency and customers like them, is it illegal for the agent to ask them to come with them?

“It is a very thin line and there is no right or wrong answer. I don’t think it should even be considered a crime. It’s the client’s choice at the end of the day.”

ABTA head of legal affairs Riccardo Nardi said this case was being used as an example, and warned agents not to abuse mailing lists.

“If the Information Commission finds something like this, they want to stamp on it. Abuse of a mailing list is obvious. It’s a very clear breach of the act,” he said.

The court heard how Soltysik took the names and addresses of 574 clients from agency Quality Travel in Grantham, Lincolnshire, where he worked from 2001 to 2002 before setting up his own company.

Quality Travel customers complained after receiving mailshots from Soltysik at his new Nottingham agency New Style Travel. Spelling errors in addresses on the books of Quality Travel matched those on advertising fliers sent to potential New Style Travel clients.

Quality Travel directors first warned Soltysik in September last year but on learning his fliers were still being distributed to some of its 8,000 clients, they complained to the commission.

Soltysik initially denied any wrong-doing but in court admitted he had downloaded the alphabetical mailshot.

James Beck, representing Soltysik, said his client was trading in the new firm at a loss. He said the case had a grave effect on his client, who suffered a heart attack after proceedings started.

Judge Joan Butler QC said: “You took private information. You had no right to access that data or to use it. It was a breach of your employer’s trust and of the trust of those you contacted.”

Soltysik was fined £2,600 and must pay £1,000 towards the prosecution costs.

After the case, Quality Travel chief executive James Hazelden added: “It is very personal when you employ someone and they steal your client base. It is a lesson for other people in the trade that this activity won’t be condoned.”