I'm not sure we can blame London here. A driver breaks a rule, TFL sends to Euro parking, Euro parking request the drivers details from the appropriate agency in their country, the country sends the details, they issue a fine.

That seems pretty standard to me? I think the only argument is against the organisations in the countries possibly if they're not supposed to share.

This is the best summary I could come up with:

The Guardian can reveal Transport for London (TfL) has been accused by five EU countries of illegally obtaining the names and addresses of their citizens in order to issue the fines, with more than 320,000 penalties, some totalling thousands of euros, sent out since 2021.

Transport authorities in Belgium, Spain, Germany and the Netherlands have confirmed to the Guardian that driver data cannot be shared with the UK for enforcement of London’s ultra-low emission zone (Ulez), and claim registered keeper details were obtained illegally by agents acting for TfL’s contractor Euro Parking Collection.

TfL said that despite an absence of individual data-sharing agreements with EU countries, “local laws” allowed authorities to share vehicle owner information with the UK for the enforcement of traffic regulations.

The firm is owned by the US transport technology group Verra Mobility, which is listed on the Nasdaq stock exchange and headed by the former Bank of America Merrill Lynch executive David Roberts.

In October, the Belgian government ordered a criminal investigation after a court bailiff was accused of illegally passing the details of 20,000 drivers to Euro Parking for Ulez enforcement.

“Euro Parking obtained the data through unlawful use of an EU directive to facilitate the cross-border exchange of information about traffic offences that endanger road safety,” a KBA spokesperson said.

The original article contains 1,267 words, the summary contains 216 words. Saved 83%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!

OK, we have all the details, wrong doers, and corrupts. When can we expect them to be held legally accountable?

Fuuuucking hell what a terrible article. Here's the pertinent paragraph:

Campaigners accuse Euro Parking of circumventing data protection rules by using EU-based agents to request driver data without disclosing that it is for UK enforcement.

TFL contracts Euro Parking to send fines to people. Euro Parking is based in the EU, and uses that fact to obtain information about European drivers, which TFL ultimately should not have access to.

Here's the thing, it is the data CONTROLLER'S job to control data. You can make all the requests you want and it's up to the party that holds the data to make sure that request is legitimate. The breach is on their side.

I guess there is an argument that this information has been obtained under false pretenses. If that's true, it's still got nothing to do with TFL. I guarantee there's a contract term about complying with all relevant laws.

I can feel the Facebook emojis piling up by the second 😡 🤬 😡

British authorities really don't seem to be giving EU citizens a break