Woman ‘received creepy messages’ from bus worker who ‘got her details from her test and trace form’

Kat Kingsley says she was sent messages from a bus worker who got her details from a Test and Trace form. (SWNS)
Kat Kingsley says she was sent messages from a bus worker who got her details from a test and trace form. (SWNS)

A woman claims she was sent “creepy” messages from a city sightseeing bus tour worker who got hold of her personal details from a test and trace form.

Kat Kingsley, 25, gave her name and phone number to Original Tour in Windsor in case she needed to be contacted in the event of an outbreak of coronavirus.

But she was shocked when a member of staff on the bus allegedly used her number to message her twice asking to see her again.

In the messages, that were sent three days after the trip, the man told her that she had been "living in his head” and admitted "knowing all the risk involved in using data that's not supposed to be for me".

Kingsley, a nanny, got on the bus on Thursday with a child she was looking after and gave her details to a staff member, who wrote them on a piece of paper as part of the NHS Test and Trace system.

The messages that Kat Kingsley says were sent to her from a worker at Original Tour. (SWNS)
The messages that Kat Kingsley says were sent to her from a worker at Original Tour. (SWNS)

She described the messages she then received on Sunday night as "creepy" and said they left her "weirded out".

The messages read: "Basically, the other day after you left, I felt silly keep looking around to see if I could spot you again…

"So today I decided to stop being silly and go full stupid and write you, knowing all the risk involved in using data that's not supposed to be for me.”

It added: "Anyway, apart all the due apologies you owe me for all this silliness and stupidity you generated in me, I need you to tell me something to make me finally realise that that smile wasn't that gorgeous and it’s not really you, but the fact that I like all the Kats in general."

Kingsley, of Hayle, Cornwall, was left shaken and reported the incident to Original Tour.

She said: "At first I was pretty shocked, I never thought this would happen to me…

"When I woke up I thought about it more and more, and realised how big of an issue this actually is.

Watch: How does the new NHS contact tracing app work?

"Not only that, but he had mentioned the child's name in the messages as well. So as a duty of care for the child, I had to report it anyway.”

She added that the government “really need to re-assess the track and trace system” as a result of her experience.

Original Tour have now launched an investigation and said it is taking the matter “extremely seriously".

A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: "The unauthorised use of customers' information provided for contact tracing is unacceptable.”

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