Medway Council has sold information from the electoral register to businesses and political parties for thousands of pounds.

Since 2003 the council has raised more than £15,500 from the sale of information.

It has supplied credit companies, mortgage brokers, health clubs and communications firms with details of Medway residents.

Since 2003 more than 16 organisations have benefited from the sale of details, including Roko health clubs, Tonbridge and Malling Conservative Association and Gillingham Liberal Democrats.

The council’s decision was revealed after a Freedom of Information request by the Medway Messenger. Registering on the electoral roll is compulsory under UK law and you can be fined up to £1,000 for failing to, or for giving false details.

By law, the council is within its rights to sell this information to certain groups.

The majority of details released are from an edited register, although some are from the full register.

The full version is available to credit reference agencies, but only to check names and addresses of people applying for credit. It can be harder to get credit if you are not registered.

The full register can also be used for law enforcement and for electoral purposes by political parties, and anyone can view the full register at the local authority office, under supervision.

The edited register can be sold to anyone, although around 35 per cent of electors ask for their details to be omitted at the time of registering.

Despite these omissions the edited register has been bought several times.

The register is sold for a statutory fee set by the Electoral Commission: paper copy, £10 plus £5 per 1000 entries from the register; data copy, £20 plus £1.50 per 1000 entries from the register.

A spokesman for Medway Council said: “Only certain people and organisations can have copies of the full register, and they can only use it for specified purposes. It is a criminal offence for them to pass it on to anyone else or to use it for any other purpose.

“The edited register leaves out the names and addresses of people who have asked for them to be excluded from that version of the register.

“Electors are given the chance to opt-out of the edited register when they complete the household registration form each year.”

Delivery of forms to register for the 2009 electoral role began on Thursday.