Warning for thousands of Arnold Clark car dealership customers

Thousands of drivers have been given the green light to take legal action against a UK car dealer due to a major data breach. UK car dealership Arnold Clark experienced a major cyber-attack, which resulted in customer data being breached.

15,000 drivers have been given the go ahead to pursue a compensation claim against Arnold Clark after a dark web data breach.

The car dealership company suffered a cyber attack in 2022 which resulted in customer data appearing online. Arnold Clark, which has its headquarters in Glasgow, had argued that any legal action should be stopped because a similar case is already being pursued in England.

But the Court of Session - Scotland's highest civil court - has ruled that because the vehicles were sold in Scotland, thousands of customers could proceed with their claim.

In his ruling, Lord Sandison said there was no meaningful link between the dispute and England, adding it had "no connection whatsoever with England".

Legal firm Thompsons previously told The Sunday Post newspaper, it had been approached by more than 5,000 people who have received a letter from Arnold Clark advising them that their personal data had been compromised.

Partner Patrick McGuire told the newspaper: "I think this is the tip of the iceberg. The most financially sensitive data has been posted on the dark web and certainly includes data that would allow criminals to steal people's identities and open fraudulent bank accounts.

"Our clients are understandably very worried." The company said it had taken several steps to protect partners and customers following the cyber attack.

"Upon advice from our cyber security team, we understand that some personal data has been extracted by the hackers who carried out the cyber attack," the company told customers at the time.

"We take the protection of your personal data extremely seriously, and we want to assure you we are doing everything we can to minimise any risk to you from this incident."