Pub landlord abused Track and Trace to send creepy text to woman

A pub landlord has apologised to his community after abusing the NHS Track and Trace service to send a creepy text to a young woman who visited his bar. James Karran, who owns St Canna’s Alehouse in Cardiff has issued a statement regarding his conduct in using the mobile number provided for the Covid-19 system.

His statement said he was “sorry for letting down his community” after messaging the woman at 8.19 pm on November 19 this year. “Just so you know you’ve got a super pretty face so you’re allowed to not wear a mask at the bar. Everyone else must wear one”, he wrote.

The following day, there was a message left on the bar’s Facebook page from the woman’s partner. It read: “St Canna’s Ale House, thanks for deleting my review on your page. Last night my partner was the victim of a GDPR breach. She went into this establishment, filled out the Track and Trace without thinking anything of it. She proceeded to order a drink at the bar, but the barman/owner James told her to remove the mask as he couldn’t hear her apparently, but only for this man to see what she looked like. Then [he] took her details from the Track and Trace sheet and messaged her illegally. My partner then left the establishment as soon as she had this creepy text from the owner/manager.”

After the woman’s partner sent an angry message to Mr Karran, he begged them not to take the issue any further, saying he was “so so sorry” that he abused Track and Trace. Despite this, the pub did not issue a response until almost a month after the incident, on 10 December. They issued a statement saying they are to become accredited with the “Good Night Out” campaign to become a safer space, and they will donate a full Saturday night’s takings to Woman’s Aid.

After her abused Track and Trace, Mr Karran also tweeted: “I’m so unbelievably sorry. I’m sorry to the person I hurt directly by breaking their trust with GDPR and sorry to our community for letting you down. I’m sorry too I didn’t say this earlier, I didn’t know what the best thing to do was. I feel so ashamed. I hope you can forgive me.”

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