Head of UK tax and customs service resigns

The head of Britain's tax and customs service resigned Tuesday amid claims his department lost confidential personal data for millions of people.

Paul Gray, chairman of HM Revenue & Customs, left his post ahead of an emergency statement to Parliament being made by Treasury chief Alistair Darling.

The British Broadcasting Corp. claimed records, including bank details, of 15 million child benefit claimants, have been lost by his department.

The Treasury refused to give any details in advance of Darling's statement to lawmakers at the House of Commons later Tuesday.

A report Monday carried on BBC TV's "Watchdog" consumer affairs program alleged the department had lost a CD containing sensitive details of 15,500 people.

Gray told the program his service had apologized and written to people affected by the problem.

BBC News 24 TV reported that records related to up to 15 million child benefit claims had been lost.

The service is responsible for collecting taxes, distributing some welfare payments and carrying out border checks.