A Brisbane entrepreneur says he will be forced to sell "critically sensitive" details of more than 21,000 people to the highest bidder, as he unloads his towing business over a multi-million-dollar dispute with the Queensland Government.

Dominic Holland said tow.com.au held the confidential records of 21,824 Queensland residents and 1,033 police officers as a result of its ill-fated contract with police, to tow cars impounded under anti-hoon laws.

The ABC has sighted some of the records — with identifying details obscured — and they included bank accounts, drivers' licences and contact details of residents, password encryption details, as well as payroll numbers of police officers.

Mr Holland said police had supplied the details to tow.com.au to pursue the car owners for payment, after refusing to pay millions of dollars of storage fees incurred by uncollected cars.

He said the company was legally obliged to keep the records for at least 10 years, but was now concerned about what could be done with the confidential data once he handed over the business, which would happen within days.

"Realistically, given the huge, critically sensitive information this company has, every business which has an interest in obtaining this information is likely an organisation you wouldn't really want to have in control of this information," he told the ABC.

"This information shouldn't exist anywhere other than in the Government organisations it's relevant to.

"A driver's licence detail on the black market is worth $80 and we're talking tens of thousands of these types of records.

"It is hugely valuable information for people looking to obtain that kind of detail."

Mr Holland said he had been backed into a corner over a financial dispute with the Queensland police. ( Supplied: Facebook )

He said nearly half of the people on the database had not committed any offence and could have sold their vehicle years earlier, while others could have had their car misused by someone else.

"It's critically sensitive personal information: date of birth, licence details, bank account details for some, passport numbers, home addresses, mobile numbers and names and a lot more," he said.

"The really concerning thing is just over 40 per cent of those people never committed an offence, hadn't received a speeding fine, had no interaction with the police service.

"And yet their information was given to an external private entity to go and pursue for debts that were incurred by the police service themselves.

"A lot of these people have no idea they're currently sitting in this database."

'No choice' but to sell

Mr Holland has filed a $15 million civil lawsuit against the State of Queensland over the disputed contract, which was terminated early last October.

"I've got no choice … The state has delayed this lawsuit and this dispute so long that I've got no other viable or legal options other than just sell my share in this business to another entity that can afford to fight that battle," he said.

Mr Holland said a lot of people would not know they were sitting on the database. ( ABC News: Alexandra Blucher )

Mr Holland has also been accused of failing to pay unrelated tow contractors, including those working interstate.

He said the company had a problem with "late payments" but the proceeds of the sale of the impoundment business would allow him to settle all contractor debts.

Mr Holland said there were offers on the table and by the end of this week would be forced to take the best one, with the highest bidder currently an overseas company.

He said whether the new owner could sell the data for lawful purposes such as marketing lists was "a matter for themselves".

"I daresay the data purchasers, data brokers are going to be interested in the data," he said.

Mr Holland said he had raised the matter with Police Commissioner Ian Stewart and Police Minister Mark Ryan.

In a statement, the Queensland Police Service said the state "denies the amounts [of debt] claimed by tow.com.au".

"It would be inappropriate for the state to comment further, while this matter is before the court," the statement read.

Deputy Premier Jackie Trad deferred questions about the issue to the state's police minister.

"Of course there are concerns about any personal details being conveyed in an insecure way," she said.

A spokesman for Mr Ryan said it would be inappropriate for the minister to comment while the matter was before the courts.

Editor's note (19/6/18): This story was amended on June 19 to clarify that the ABC viewed records that had identifying details obscured.