A MAN is accusing BT of breaking the law and invading his privacy after it released his ex-directory phone number without his consent.

Paul Williams, of Stonebarn Lane, Runcorn, raised his concerns after he lost his £75 British Telecom pager on his way home to Palacefields on Tuesday afternoon.

When he realised it was gone, he phoned BT to stop the line, which he uses to keep in contact with his wife.

But an hour later a girl phoned him. saying she had his pager and that her mother had found it in Murdishaw.

Paul, a diabetic, asked how she had got his ex-directory phone number, she replied that BT had given it to her.

"She had my name and my ex-directory phone number," said Paul.

"How the hell did she get my information? The only way she could have is from BT."

When the girl told him that BT had indeed given her his details, contravening Data Protection laws, Paul rang to remonstrate.

He claimed: "I asked the guy how this girl got my number and he just said 'off the computer'."

When he phoned again the next day, BT staff insisted they had not passed out his details.

A spokesman for BT said: "We are continuing to investigate his complaint thoroughly and will take whatever measures are necessary to rectify our internal procedures, if any error is found to have occurred.

"We greatly regret any inconvenience suffered by Mr Williams following the loss of his pager. We have extended our sincerest apologies to him."

To complete the unhappy episode, the girl did not return the pager, even though it is useless to anyone who does not know the personalised access code.

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