Security News > 2021 > June > UK watchdog fines biz £130k for 900,000+ direct marketing calls to folk who had opted out

A home improvement biz based in East Sussex is facing a fine of £130,000 for making upwards of 900,000 unsolicited marketing calls to individuals and businesses that had enrolled on the Telephone Preference Service.

Colour Coat of St Leonards-on-Sea made almost 970,000 connected calls between 1 August 2019 and 31 March last year, the Information Commissioner's Office found, of which more than 452,000 were to folk or entities registered with TPS or the corporate equivalent.

This included repeated calls to people that told the company not to contact them again.

Colour Coat, incorporated in 2016 by Callum Henry Jones, also used a variety of false company names, including the Homes Advice Bureau, EcoSolve UK, Citizens Advice, and sometimes failed to confirm its identity entirely, flouting Regulation 24 of PECR. Examples of the call content provided to the ICO by the complainants ranged from them lying, being rude and aggressive, to just hanging up when challenged.

"Businesses employing these tactics are very likely to come to our attention. The catalogue of contraventions we uncovered, as well as the manner in which calls were made in this case, resulted in a fine and a legal notice to stop."

Longson said that some of the people that complained reported that the cold calls made them feel "Annoyed" or "Anxious".

News URL

https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2021/06/24/ico_colour_coat_fine/