Sports club keeps using my address

[TeddySunflowers]

Help! There's a sport club near my house, they have a building in an field nearby and I guess my house is the closest to it.

They keep using my address for all their deliveries and pick ups to the point now where I'm getting delivery people knocking on my door every morning sometimes twice a day and it's becoming really invasive and stressful because it's constantly disturbing my day, quite often they come early and wake me up, or hammer on the door while I'm in a meeting, and when I explain that I'm not the sports club and they've used my address without my permission, they argue with me as if I'm wrong! Then insist on showing me the order with my address on it as if that'll somehow convince me I'm not standing in my own home. It never used to be this bad and I used to try and be helpful when I first moved in but after accepting a parcel for them they turned up and we're immensely rude and I decided screw that I've just done them a favour for no reason. So I don't accept parcels, I don't even redirect the drivers any more in hope that it would deter the club from using my address but they still do it.

I know it's not the fault of the delivery person but I am slowly losing my patience with it. We've told the club to stop I've also contacted the delivery company to tell them to stop but it makes no difference. I don't know what else to do 😫 hellpp!

@TeddySunflowers so it means providing employees addresses with no name attached to a 3rd party is not a breach of GDPR etc.

For example mapping where employees live.

It depends on whether the information could be used to identify an individual. So, if I understand it correctly, one piece of personal data on it's own (say, their address) is not a GDPR breach in itself. But if you combine that with another piece of personal data which could allow them to be identified (e.g. job title) then that would. Mapping where employees live and making that publicly available would be sailing pretty close to the wind.

Not sure if this is considered theft, but a story from me.

We had a situation once where we came home to a parcel on our doorstep. We didn't know the name of the person on the label (the previous owners are known for still sending parcels to our house, despite us having moved in 10 years ago, but it wasn't them). There was no returning address on the outside, and no evidence of who'd actually delivered it either.

We opened it, expecting to find a delivery note or something, but there was nothing identifiable. Just a box containing a very expensive (yet hideous) pair of sunglasses!

I did a bit more digging on the name on the label and found their name on Companies House and our address associated with their name, but from 20 years ago. The company was associated with the type of sunglasses that we'd received, so there was a connection. The only problem was, they were no longer a director of that company or any other, so I couldn't find any up to date information. The company they worked for seemed to have stopped trading too.

We held on to them for a month or so, wondering if anyone would come back for them but when no-one did, I flogged them on eBay and gave the money to our local food bank. Didn't know what else to do!

While it probably was "theft by finding", I'm not sure what more I could have done and at least someone benefited from it!

So, GDPR is not just about whether your name is attached to a data item, but whether it realistically could be attached to a data item, e.g. using public data.

You can pay £3 to Land Registry to find out the owner of any registered land, including private homes. There is no opt-out for this, making who owns your home a matter of trivially-queriable public record.

So a list of addresses of, say, a political party's membership, even without the names, would be sensitive personal data because all the home owners on that list would have their party political beliefs (which are sensitive personal data) associated with their address, which can be trivially matched to their names.

In this case, the sports club have stored your address, which is personal data because it can be matched to your name trivially, in a computer system (their website) without your permission or a good business reason. Using you as a mailstop without your consent is not a good business reason. So yes, you have GDPR grounds to tell them to delete your address.

I would start accepting the parcels and just binning them or return to sender. Claim ignorance when they knock. What parcel? No sorry, not seen anything. Ignore any beeping and shouting. When they're not receiving them and can't get a refund, they'll stop.

Agree with this.

https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/uk-gdpr-guidance-and-resources/personal-information-what-is-it/what-is-personal-information-a-guide/#4

Even if you may need additional information to be able to identify someone, they may still be identifiable.
That additional information may be information you already hold, or it may be information that you need to obtain from another source. Like, oh I dunno, the Land Registry for £3.

You have the right to be told by the sports club that they are using your personal dara https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/uk-gdpr-guidance-and-resources/individual-rights/individual-rights/ I bet they didn't do that.

You have the right to request deletion https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/uk-gdpr-guidance-and-resources/individual-rights/individual-rights/right-to-erasure/

You have the right to object to processing, especially as they have no legal basis for doing so.

Oh this one!
They clearly aren’t in during the day and see themselves above you and you are their servant and can take in all Packes.

The sellers are also storing your address and they don't have a valid reason to hold that personal data about you, because these are not your parcels.

So email the sellers to request deletion of your address from any account that you aren't named on and object to future processing of your address as part of any account that you aren't named on.

Name GDPR and Data Protection Act 2018 in your email. Quote the ICO guidance and link it.

Legally, is it theft if it they are actually deliberately and knowingingly sending to an address that is not their?
techy question- I’m curious
i know it’s illegal to open mail or keep mail that been addressed incorrectly or delivered incorrectly- but this isn’t

This. Your data shouldn’t be held or used by them

you’ve already asked them to atop
report the breach dir3ct
https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/report-a-breach/personal-data-breach/#:~:text=To%20report%20a%20breach%2C%20call,hours%2C%20you%20can%20report%20online.

Who on earth voted YABU?

They’re cheeky fuckers!

Good shout!

Go and speak to the maintenance team at the sports club or whoever is there day to day. I am sure they are fed up with chasing parcels. Get them onside, work together.

the club president probably isn't there much so doesn't actually realise the inconvenience caused.

I think you should write to the chief knobber again and expressly forbid them from using your address for deliveries etc. Get some advice from citizens advice, or if you have a legal helpline associated with house insurance or a bank account or anything like that. If it's possible for you to tell them you will consider all future deliveries as gifts I do like that idea, and I'd also put it in writing to the chief bigwig that members of their club have tried to intimidate you and been abusive, and that this is to stop immediately or you will take further action.

It's not the most strictly legal and nice option, but I'd be tempted to start keeping deliveries and denying all knowledge of them, (especially if you can avoid accepting them in person with a photo from delivery company) whilst at the same time reporting any arsehole behaviour to the club and to the police, every single time. If they complain to the police that you've nicked their parcels, hopefully the police will tell them to stop using your address. Likewise when you complain to the police, they might just pay them a visit and tell them to pack it in.

The ICO will likely do sweet FA but I am willing to help crowdfund any legal action anyone takes against GDPR breachers. Data privacy matters a lot to me.

It would still be theft @Appleofmyeye2023 because the parcels are addressed to CF Posh Club, Teddy Sunflowers House, Teddytown. It is clear they are not for Teddy Sunflowers.

Does the snotty club have a rival club nearby? You could tell "Gammons' Golf Club" (assumed name) that receiving their mail doesn't work for you so from now on you will be forwarding it to "Gammons' Rival Golf Club".

You have to play this smart. Do not accept parcels into your home. But state clearly to the delivery men: “I am the only legal resident at this address and I can’t accept it. If you want to take responsibility and leave it someone on the road then thats your perogative”. Then if they dump the parcels somewhere- post it on the local groups. Some 5 fingered person will take it. Enough dissapearences will make them think twice. According to the theft act, you have not breached the law.

alternatively accept the parcels and invoice the club for your services. Only release the parcels upon received payments to your invoices. Even if the head kicks up a stink. Its a civil matter that will be on your side and you can make some money or make them deliver to a pickup location. You need to fight fire with fire when it comes to rich c**ts

Reporting to action fraud won't make any difference OP.
They basically log anything reported to them and do absolutely nothing with the information. I don't really understand the point of them tbh.

If the Action Fraud complaint and the new signs don't stop the problem, then I'd consider going to the local paper (if you have one) to shame the club. Local press are usually looking for new stories to cover.

Good luck, OP.

A solicitors letter would work here.

So what is the address on the label on the parcel?

It certainly is.

So are
"Who are you? "
"I don't know you. "
" I'm not handing parcels to some random in the street"
and
"I'll need to check your identification. Come back in an hour"

I wouldn't have given them the parcel if they'd spoken to me like that.

Completely get this! People for some reason change my name to what they think is a shortened version of my name when in reality it’s a completely different name!