RAIL STAFF DATA ON STOLEN LAPTOP

The computer was in a bag taken from an employee of Deloitte which until recently was the external auditor for rpmi, which administers railway pension schemes.

A helpline has been set up for members of several railway pension schemes although the company stressed that the data on the laptop did not contain bank account details and said there were a number of security measures in place.

But Gerry Doherty, general secretary of the Transport Salaried Staff Association, said there should be an inquiry because of the large number of people whose personal details have been lost.

"We are extremely concerned that this personal information affecting well over 100,000 people has gone missing.

"All we have received are bland assurances that everything is going to be all right.

"There will be a lot of worried railway employees who will be concerned about where this information will eventually end up. We need to know precisely what information has gone missing and how security will be sharpened in the future."

Mr Doherty also complained that the computer was stolen weeks ago but the union was only told about the incident in the past few days.

A spokesman for Network Rail said: "Deloitte and our pension scheme administrator have made us aware of the security breach caused by the theft of a laptop. We have been given assurances that security measures were in place to protect the data but are investigating this incident as a matter of course."

The laptop is the latest in a number to be stolen or lost including those belonging to the Government and Armed Forces.