A businessman is warning fellow traders to ignore a demand for payment from a company claiming to be collecting a fee on behalf of the Data Protection Agency.

Roy Page, who runs 625 Aerials in Queens Park Rise, Brighton, received a letter from Data Protection Agency Services, of Fleetwood, Lancashire.

The note warned if his business failed to pay a £95 registration fee under the Data Protection Act, it would be fined up to £5,000.

It arrived in a brown envelope bearing the scales of justice and appeared official.

A fellow businessman had also received a letter from the company.

Mr Page said: "The letter said my business had still not submitted registration and, because we have names and addresses on a computer, we would have to pay £95 to them to register or we would be fined up to £5,000. It looked very official."

Mr Page decided to check his rights and visited the government's Data Protection Agency web site, which listed the company as one of many which was not sanctioned to demand such payments.

Brighton and Hove City Council's trading standards department has received 50 complaints from traders about this and other similar companies demanding money.

Trading standards officers fear unscrupulous groups are cashing in on ignorance of the Act to make easy money.

Firms across Brighton and Hove have reported receiving letters from various organisations offering to renew registrations for up to £110.

Trading standards is telling business owners not to be duped and to apply directly to the government's Information Commissioner Richard Thomas, who will charge £35. The Information Commissioner enforces and oversees the Data Protection Act 1998 and the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

Mr Thomas said: "It has come to our attention individuals posing as collectors on behalf of data protection are attending business premises requesting payment for registration.

These collectors may even produce identification cards and receipt books.

"There is no connection between the information commissioner and such individuals. The commissioner advises those approached in this way not to make any payment and to notify the police."