A family on Auckland’s North Shore have been left terrified after being sent a letter with sinister overtones from an anonymous driver.
The letter was in response to an alleged incident while an 18-year-old student was crossing the Harbour Bridge. It was not delivered by a postal service.
The student’s father has now gone to the police and is outraged, saying it is a “very, very scary” thought that someone possibly abused their power to threaten his family.
The dad, who wished to remain anonymous, said the letter had his wife’s full name and their address at the top of the letter, because the car is registered to her, followed by a veiled threat.
“Re: 07:30am, Friday 15th August on ramp before Auckland Harbor Bridge.
“If you are going to drive like an a****** and almost cause a crash with your lane changes, make sure its not to a person who can find where you live.”
The sender identified themselves only as “Person you nearly ran off the road”.
The father said he originally did not entertain the threat as his wife had not been driving at that time, but then he discovered his daughter had borrowed her mum’s car that morning.
He said, although he was not pleased to hear his daughter had possibly been driving dangerously, the idea that someone was abusing their privileges greatly concerned him.
He said his daughter could not even recall the incident. There was no contact with another car, and she did not remember anyone honking at her.
“At the end of the day, new drivers and all the rest of it, they have to cut their teeth on the job, and that is obviously getting used to the road.”
He said he did not know how soon after the incident the letter got dropped off, but he found it three days after the sender alleged they were wronged.
“This takes sort of road rage to another level, doesn’t it?
“You’ve got somebody there who’s clearly got a job where they have access to privacy, you know, your address, all that sort of stuff.
“And clearly they’ve abused their ability to have that and used it for their own personal gain.
“And then gone ahead and made this threat … very, very scary for somebody who’s, you know, an 18-year-old girl.”
He said his daughter and wife have been left shaken, wondering if the person is watching their home.
He said it was clear the sender felt some amount of remorse or guilt about their actions, because he or she chose not to leave a name and number with the note.
A police spokesperson said they had received information about an unsigned letter that was delivered to a North Shore address between August 16-20.
“The letter referenced a vehicle that is connected to the property.
“It is not known how personal information relating to the vehicle was accessed and shared.
“Police have not received any other complaints of this nature and will assess the report for any further lines of inquiry.”
The Privacy Commissioner said information about motor vehicles, including car number plates, is held by the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) and can be accessed in several different ways by authorised users, with authorisation granted by NZTA.
“Unauthorised access or use of this information can lead to a range of privacy harms, including theft and emotional harm.
“In a situation where access has occurred without authorisation, we expect the responsible business to assess whether the breach has caused or is likely to cause serious harm and therefore whether the breach requires notification to my office.”
A spokesperson for NZTA said it consults the Ombudsman, Privacy Commissioner and police (our advising agencies) before deciding whether to grant an authorisation to the Motor Vehicle Register (the MVR).
NZTA requires all parties to use the MVR to report every 12 months, providing evidence that they have kept records for each plate inquiry, undertaken regular staff training, and reported all actions taken in relation to actual or suspected privacy breaches.
“NZTA is able to suspend or revoke MVR access if NZTA, as the registrar, is not satisfied that personal information accessed by these authorised parties will be kept secure and used only for their authorised purposes.”