There’s no need to put up with nuisance calls

Sir – We at the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) share Councillor David Fairweather’s concern at the negative and sometimes serious impact nuisance calls can have on the privacy and wellbeing of the public, particularly the elderly and vulnerable (“We cannot tolerate this any longer” – Misery of nuisance calls in Angus laid bare, July 5).

As acknowledged in the article, we regularly take enforcement action against organisations responsible for nuisance marketing calls and publish monthly update reports on our website.

However, to do this we rely heavily on the public’s help.

We can’t punish the worst offenders if we don’t know about them.

That’s why we ask anyone who receives marketing calls they haven’t consented to receive to report it to us, either via our online reporting tool or by calling our helpline on 0303 1231113.

People can also help themselves by taking the following steps:

Register with the Telephone Preference Service free of charge;

Tell the caller they don’t want to receive marketing calls from them. They are then required to stop;

Check privacy statements when providing a phone number.

The ICO can fine organisations up to £500,000 for breaching the Privacy and Electronic Communication Regulations and we are also pleased that the Government has pledged to introduce additional legislation making rogue directors personally liable.

This will mean they won’t be able to escape punishment by putting their firms into liquidation.

A lot of work is already being done to protect people’s privacy and people don’t have to suffer in silence.

By reporting these calls to the ICO, people can make their voice heard loud and clear.

Maureen Falconer. ICO regional manager Scotland, 45 Melville Street, Edinburgh.

Councillor David Fairweather has expressed outrage at the nuisance call plague in Angus.