A FURIOUS father has slammed social service bosses after highly confidential documents were sent to the wrong address.

Middlesbrough Council posted the paperwork to a house in Liverpool but managed to get the number wrong.

The father-of-four said the misplaced files contained highly sensitive information about his children and should never have fallen into the wrong hands.

The council has written an apology to the father but he is concerned the mistake could have been made before.

The man, who The Northern Echo has agreed not to name to protect the identity of his children, said: “This is absolutely disgraceful. These files could have fallen into the hands of anybody.

“I only found out they were missing when a police officer came and knocked on my door and spoke to my partner, saying a neighbour had handed over the files.

“The really worrying thing is that I don’t know whether this has happened before and the letters haven’t been handed over to the police.”

A social worker from the council wrote to the man and apologised for the mistake.

The letter read: “I am writing with regards to the Child Protection Minutes that were accidentally posted to number 64. As discussed during our phone call this morning, this was a mistake and all files have now been changed to number 94 and any further correspondence will be sent by recorded delivery to ensure no further mistakes are make.

“I hope you accept this apology and I will speak to you in early June for an update.”

However, the apology has not satisfied the father-offour.

He said: “If this has happened to me, what is there to say that it isn’t happening to other people.

“These were very confidential documents about very intimate parts of the lives of my children and I can’t believe they were sent to the wrong address.

“They might have apologised about what happened, but it has never been explained to me how it happened.

I am devastated.”

A Middlesbrough Council spokesman said: “We cannot comment on individual cases.

“However the utmost care is taken at all times to avoid errors, as the safety and security of those in our care is paramount.”