AN apology has been issued to hundreds of parents after an email blunder by leisure chiefs in East Renfrewshire led to a data protection breach.

Bosses at East Renfrewshire Culture and Leisure (ERCL) have blamed “human error” for the breach, which saw the email addresses of more than 400 residents being made public.

An employee had emailed one mum to ask if she was still interested in booking swimming lessons for her young son but mistakenly copied in around 430 other people.

It meant they could all see each other’s email addresses.

One parent who contacted the Barrhead News about the blunder said she was shocked to be sent the contact details of so many others.

“My son has been on a waiting list for swimming lessons in East Renfrewshire,” added the 35-year-old mum, who asked not to be named.

“I shouldn’t have been sent an email with 400-odd other people’s personal details – and, clearly, they can see mine too.

“This looks like a massive data breach to me. Others in the email chain have raised the same point.

“It is concerning how quickly your data can be shared by what I assume is human error .”

The mum said she has been waiting months to get swimming lessons arranged for her children.

ERCL is a charity with more than 400 employees that delivers sport, leisure, arts and culture services across East Renfrewshire.

It operates 10 libraries, four sports centres with gyms and pools, a 330-seat theatre and 18 community hubs, as well as managing the letting of 35 schools in the evenings and weekends.

As well as delivering the likes of swimming lessons, ERCL offers sports coaching, an Active Schools Programme, art classes and events and library and literacy programmes ranging from Bookbug sessions to visits by authors.

A spokeswoman for ERCL said further training will be provided to staff in an effort to avoid a repeat of the email blunder.

She told the Barrhead News: “As a result of human error, an email was sent to a group of customers regarding swimming lessons on Friday, where email addresses were not blind copied.

“We apologise for the error and are taking this matter very seriously. We have contacted these customers and apologise to those affected.

“The individual and our employees will receive additional training on engaging with customers in future.”