Closed circuit television (CCTV) - privacy notice
This privacy notice sits beneath our top level privacy notice and provides information about how personal data is used with regards to CCTV operated on the motorways and major roads of England (commonly known as the Strategic Road Network), including those fitted into Traffic Officer vehicles.
Please see the main privacy statement for details on your rights and who to contact about use of personal data.
What personal data do we collect and handle?
Our CCTV is not designed to capture personal information, however may occasionally process vehicle registration numbers and other imagery.
CCTV cameras are also fitted to the Traffic Officer Vehicle fleet and all vehicles display appropriate signage (please see images below). While the system may potentially record personal information (eg VRM data) in greater detail than standard network CCTV, the main purposes for which these images are processed remain incident and traffic management.
Our traffic officers are provided with Body Worn Cameras (BWC) due to an increase in verbal and physical abuse towards staff which is not necessarily captured by the Network CCTV. Capturing video footage of abusive customer behaviour enables us to ensure safe working practices are adopted and added protection is offered to our traffic officers should it be needed whilst carrying out their daily duty.
The BWC will be worn by traffic officers during daily duties, however they shall only be used overtly and under no circumstances used covertly for surveillance purposes. Recording (including voice recording) shall only take place while the traffic officers are carrying out their daily role on the SRN and customers shall be made aware wherever practically possible that they are being recorded. An example of the BWC can be found here.
What legally allows us to collect and handle information about you?
Our CCTV is processed for the purposes of incident and traffic management and the legal basis for processing any personal information captured by the system(s) falls within Article 6 (1) (e) of the UK General Data Protection Regulation – it is carried out in the public interest to monitor the efficient and safe running of the network and the safety of the traffic officers.
How long do we keep this information for?
Our CCTV data is retained for seven days, unless an incident has been tagged in which case it will be stored for 31 days and then deleted. Not all incidents are tagged.
Who do we share your data with?
Under most circumstances this data will not be shared, however there are some exceptions where we may share the information with:
- the emergency services for the prevention or detection of crime, or safety purposes
- third parties e.g. solicitors, insurance companies, members of the public for insurance purposes
- government bodies such as the Home Office for the maintenance of effective immigration control
Any data sharing will be undertaken in line with UK Data Protection law.
