A Hazlemere-based housing developer has been fined more than £1,000 for breaching data protection laws.

Magnacrest Ltd, in Penn Road, was slapped with the fine after it failed to provide an individual with personal information they requested within the required timescale of 40 calendar days.

The individual submitted a subject access request on April 17, 2017, which allows someone request all the personal information an organisation holds about them.

But Magnacrest did not provide the information and the individual complained to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), which served an enforcement notice on the company, ordering it to comply with the law and provide the requested information.

When the firm failed to obey the notice, the ICO brought a criminal prosecution under s47(1) of the Data Protection Act 1998.

Magnacrest pleaded guilty to a charge of failing to comply with an enforcement notice. The company was fined £300, with a £30 victim surcharge, and was ordered to pay £1,133.75 towards prosecution costs.

Mike Shaw, ICO’s criminal enforcement manager, said: “The right to access your own personal information is a fundamental and long-standing principle of data protection law. New laws brought into effect last May strengthen those rights even further.

“Organisations not only have to respect this right but must also respect notices from the ICO enforcing the law. If they fail to do so then they must accept the consequences, which can include a criminal prosecution.”