Bus passes privacy notice

This privacy notice is designed to help you understand how and why we process your personal data in relation to Bus Passes. This notice should be read in conjunction with our corporate privacy notice and the Unicard Limited Privacy Notice.

Who are we?

North Yorkshire Council is a ‘data controller’ as defined by Article 4(7) of the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR).

Older people of pensionable age and disabled people are entitled to a bus pass giving free off-peak travel on local bus services anywhere in England. This notice details how we will process personal data in order to facilitate this scheme.

We have appointed Veritau Ltd to be our data protection officer. Their contact details are:

Information Governance Office
Veritau
West Offices
Station Rise
York
North Yorkshire
YO1 6GA

Email: infogov@northyorks.gov.uk

Tel: 01904 552848

What personal information do we collect?

When applying for your bus pass, you will be asked to provide the following information that will be collected, stored and processed:

  • basic identifiers: title, name, address, date of birth, and gender
  • contact details: telephone number and email address
  • supporting evidence of your age; if applying for an older persons pass
  • a head and shoulder photograph or image
  • the reference number from your current bus pass (for renewals)
  • blue badge number (if applicable)

If you make an application for a disabled person bus pass, then we will also ask for disability type and supporting evidence of your disability and then hold the following additional information: 

  • medical evidence

See details of the eligibility criteria and evidence required on our disabled persons bus pass page on our website.

Why do we collect your personal information?

We collect your personal information in order to check your eligibility for the service using the guidelines provided by the Department for Transport and to facilitate the issuing of the bus pass.

Your information may also be used to contact you when your bus pass has expired to remind you to reapply or to automatically reissue you with a card.

Who do we share this information with?

We will share your information with a third-party supplier called Unicard card management company. Unicard will share information with their partners to manage your bus pass application. These partners are:
 

  • Experian Plc who will undertake a search on behalf of the Council for the purposes of verifying your identity
  • Paragon ID who will print your bus pass and sent it to you
  • NMI card payment – if you lose your pass and require a replacement. They will take payment for the reissue of your bus pass

We may share your information within our organisation and with external organisations such as the Police and other councils if we suspect that a bus pass is being used fraudulently and /or a vulnerable person may be at risk. Basic identifiers and contact details are shared with our other internal teams in order to offer consistent customer support.

We participate in the national fraud Initiative which is currently run by the Cabinet Office. Your information will be shared with Cabinet Office as part of an exercise that matches electronic data within and between public and private sector bodies to prevent and detect fraud.  

How long do we keep your information for?

We are legally required to hold some types of information for certain periods of time. We set retention periods for all types of personal data and review data accordingly.  We will hold: 

Data held Retention period
Customer details and records relating to bus pass applications, including supporting documentation sent with your application. For as long as the customer chooses to have a live bus pass. Where bus passes are cancelled or not renewed data will be removed from the system within 12 months.

What is our lawful basis for processing your information?

North Yorkshire Council relies on the following lawful basis to process your personal data:
 

  • Article 6(1)(e) - Public Task (DPA Section 8 - Public interest or Official authority
    Article 6(1) (c) – Legal obligation - ENCTS – the Local Authority (LA) has a statutory duty to issue ENCTS passes to enable eligible children, young persons and adults to access travel via concessionary measures.

When processing special category data, the council will rely on the following lawful basis:

  • Article 9(2)(g) - processing for reasons of substantial public interest
    • 16. Support for individuals with a particular disability or medical condition
    • 18. Safeguarding of children and individuals at risk

We process your personal data in order to comply with our statutory duty as a travel concession authority of issuing travel concession permits to eligible residents as set out in the Transport Act 2000.

For more information about how we use your data, including your privacy rights and the complaints process, please see our corporate privacy notice.