A woman has told how she was left "shaking" by "creepy" messages sent to her by a bus tour worker, who got hold of her details from a test-and-trace form.
Kat Kingsley, 25, gave her personal details to Original Tour buses in Windsor, in case she needed to be contacted in the event of a coronavirus outbreak.
But three days later, she was shocked to discover that a member of staff had sent her messages, asking to see her again.
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The man, who hasn't been named, told her that she had been "living in his head" and admitted he knew "all the risk involved in using data that's not supposed to be for me".
Kat, who works as a nanny, took the site seeing tour on Thursday with a child she was looking after and wrote her name and number down for the NHS Test and Trace system.
But the messages she later received left the nanny "weirded out".
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The messages read: (sic): "Basically, the other day after you left, I felt silly keep looking around to see if I could spot you again.
"Yesterday they sent me again to ******and I felt even more silly realising I was still hoping to see you. Along with the idea of this stupid message you've been living in my head (not really good conditions but the rent is cheap and there is plenty of free room) for three days by now, sweet ****. Joking, joking, joking.
"So today I decided to stop being silly and go full stupid and write you, knowing all the risk involved in using data that's not supposed to be for me.
"Don't get me wrong, mainly I'm just so zealous and professional to test, in advance, a totally random phone number to see if it is correct in case the NHS will need it in the future...
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"Anyway, apart all the due apologies you owe me for all this silliness and stupidity you generated in me, I need you to tell me something to make me finally realise that that smile wasn't that gorgeous and its not really you, but the fact that I like all the kats in general."
Kat, of Hayle, Cornwall, was left shaking after the incident.
She said: "I am a nanny and I took the child I was caring for to Windsor for a day out, and wanted to take him on the open top bus.
"I bought a ticket off the man, I cannot remember his name, only that he was Italian, and before getting on the bus I had to sign my name and number on the track and trace paper which was a clipboard he was holding.
"We got on the bus, had a great time, said our goodbyes. This was on Thursday.
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"Then on Sunday night at about 10pm, I received very strange messages from the bus ticket man.
"At first I was pretty shocked, I never thought this would happen to me - but I figured I'd wait until the morning to ask for advice from people.
"When I woke up I thought about it more and more, and realised how big of an issue this actually is.
"Not only that, but he had mentioned the child's name in the messages as well. So as a duty of care for the child, I had to report it anyway.
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"I suffer from situational anxiety, and I was so anxious not only that this had happened, but the fact I had to go and tell the family that unfortunately their child is involved.
"I was quite literally shaking all morning, when I told the parents."
Lucy is now urging people to "be cautious" as track-and-trace "is not very safe and needs re-evaluating".
"Now I don't think I will give my details over again," she said. "I'm going to be wary of everywhere else."
The company have launched an investigation and said it "takes the matter extremely seriously."
Kat said she feels the whole test and trace system now needs re-evaluating and warned others of the dangers of giving over their personal details.
She said: "The government really need to re-assess the track and trace system. All it'd take is for the wrong person to get the wrong information and somebody could end up in a much worse position than I.
"I want to know how our government can make our data safer."
Original Tour said if the incident was "proven from our investigation, this is totally unacceptable" and it would take appropriate action.
A spokesperson added: "It goes against the values of our organisation entirely."
A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: "The unauthorised use of customers' information provided for contact tracing is unacceptable and every business must comply with all data protection legislation."
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