‘HUMAN error’ was the cause of a data breach by Basingstoke MP Maria Miller who has apologised for the mistake which resulted in hundreds of people’s email addresses being shared.

Members of the public got in touch with the Gazette to say they had received an email from Dame Maria which included “hundreds of personal email addresses”.

One recipient said the email sender had copied all email addresses into the ‘to’ part of the email so they were visible for everyone to see.

READ MORE: Car rental company vans causing nuisance again parking on public road

“Hilariously there was a recall email, repeating the same leak,” they added. A third email was sent apologising for the data breach, they said. 

Another recipient of the email, regarding Dame Maria's campaign to slow down house building, said around 500 email addresses were copied in.  

In an email titled 'apology' recipients were notified by Dame Maria of the breach. 

She said: "I am writing to notify you of a breach that involved your email address. In human error, rather than blind copying contacts into the email, my office sent an update on the 'Slow it Down' campaign directly to recipients. 

"I sincerely apologise for any inconvenience caused by this incident."

It advised that Dame Maria's office will "revisit the rules and best practice around personal data protection". 

Those affected were advised that they could complain directly to the Information Commissioner's Office. 

Dame Maria said: “This mistake which left email addresses visible in an email to a group was the result of human error. No other details were disclosed, the email in question was recalled and everyone affected has been notified.”