Driver data disappears

LONDON - The personal details of more than three million British learner drivers have gone missing in another data blunder, the Transport Secretary has admitted.

The names, addresses and telephone numbers for every candidate who applied for a theory test between September 2004 and April this year were on a computer hard drive lost in May at a supposedly secure facility in the US, Ruth Kelly said.

It came as Alistair Darling, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, said he still did not know the whereabouts of disks containing the details of 25 million people. They were lost by officials at Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs.

- Independent, Reuters