Increased fines for nuisance calls
Companies who plague consumers with nuisance silent calls could face fines of up to £50,000, trade and industry secretary Alan Johnson announced today.
It is part of the government’s efforts to halt the exorbitant increase in such phone calls, which occur when calls generated by computer are automatically ended if there are not enough operators to speak to the recipient.
Announcing the news today, Mr Johnson said: “Consumers deserve proper protection from companies making excessive silent calls.
“By increasing the maximum fines from £5,000 to £50,000, we are showing how determined we are to crack down on the distress nuisance calls cause the public, especially elderly and vulnerable people.”
BT currently handles 160,000 complaints a month about nuisance calls, while the Telephone Preference Service (TPS) – which allows consumers to opt out of receiving unsolicited sales and marketing calls – already has more than 10.5 million numbers registered with them.
