Royal Mail fined for nuisance emails

Royal Mail has been fined £12,000 after sending more than 300,000 nuisance emails.

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), which imposed the fine, said that on two dates in July 2017, the company sent emails to 327,014 people who had opted out of receiving direct marketing.

The emails outlined a price drop for parcels, but the company did not have the recipients’ consent to send them the email, and so broke the law, the ICO said. Royal Mail has apologised and said it has tightened its processes.

The ICO launched an investigation after receiving a complaint from a member of the public, who had received a marketing email from Royal Mail despite having opted out.

During the investigation, Royal Mail claimed the emails were a service rather than marketing – informing customers of a price drop – the ICO said.

But the Commissioner found that the emails sent constituted marketing and not simply a service message, therefore breaching regulation 22 of the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations (PECR).

ICO head of enforcement, Steve Eckersley, said: “Royal Mail did not follow the law on direct marketing.”