A company which was responsible for making 146 million illegal calls about PPI has been slapped with a £350,000 fine after people were left feeling “threatened” and “harassed”.
An investigation by the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) found that the record high number of automated calls were initiated by Your Money Rights Ltd over a four-month period.
The Carmarthenshire-based company did not have consent to make the calls, nor did it provide its name and contact details in the recorded message.
“We’re cracking down on illegal automated calls on behalf of the British public,” Steve Ecklersley, ICO head of enforcement, said. “They are a blight on society that disregards people’s right to have their wish for peace and quiet in their own home respected.
“We know people find calls playing recorded messages particularly intrusive because they are unable to speak to a call agent. Your Money Rights should have known that the law around automated calls is stricter than for other marketing calls.”
Your Money Right Ltd’s directors are now seeking to dissolve the company, according to the ICO, which stressed that it was committed to recovering the fine and will work with insolvency practitioners and the liquidator if the business moves to insolvency.
The public body’s powers are set to be further strengthened when the government introduces a new law allowing it to fine the company directors behind nuisance call firms.
Eckersley added: “A change in law to make directors personally liable for illegal marketing calls can’t come soon enough.
“If a firm goes out of business to try and duck an ICO fine then they’re no longer making troublesome nuisance calls. But the new law will increase the tools we have to go after them and hold them fully accountable for the harassment, annoyance and disruption they’ve caused.”