£85K FINE FOR COLD CALLS

A TELECOMS firm exposed by Money Mail for cold-calling the elderly has been fined £85,000 for making nuisance calls.

The information watchdog found that for more than two years, and despite a warning from the regulator, Kent-based True Telecom called people who were registered with the Telephone Preference Service. Signing up to this service is supposed to prevent sales calls, as firms are banned from contacting you.

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) says customers reported that True Telecom’s staff gave them the impression they were calling from BT Openreach.

A Money Mail investigation in May revealed that a number of elderly readers had been cold-called by the company and promised savings on phone bills, only to find they were locked into expensive three-year contracts. When the customers tried to leave, they were threatened with exit penalties of more than £600. The ICO’s findings follow an announcement by the telecoms watchdog, Ofcom, in August that it has ‘reasonable grounds’ to believe the firm has broken its sales rules. True Telecom has since submitted more evidence to the regulator, and Ofcom is expected to reveal whether the firm will be fined in the coming months. A spokeswoman for True Telecom says: ‘We suffered a technical issue with our telephone preference service screening process, which led to these unfortunate events. ‘ No intentional deviation from regulation has ever been intended.’