Millions of unwanted marketing calls goes bust

Craig Bonnyman put his company – FEP Heatcare, in Chryston – into liquidation. the tribunal ruling and a week before FEP sance will be held to account. went under. “But another statistic is less welcome.

A heating and boiler breakdown cover Only six of the 27 fines were paid in full. website called www. homeserviceplan. “The problem end of this sector is co. uk states in its small print that “Home characterised by small marketing compaService Plan is a trading style of HSP Gas nies that pay little heed to the rules. Setting Limited” and the website was registered by up an operation that can make millions of another of Mr Bonnyman’s firms. calls is unfortunately surprisingly easy,

Another company which Mr Bonnyman with little outlay required on equipment, is sole director of is HSP Membership Ltd, premises or staff. which was previously known as Centura “It can literally be a cottage industry, and Direct Marketing. as these companies are typically limited

The name change happened in April last companies, directors can be quick to look year which the tribunal concluded was to liquidation as a way out of paying fines.” “clearly part of the strategy of concealing Bonnyman last night issued a statement FEP’s continued use of telemarketing”. to The Sunday Post. He said: “Many of FEP

Andy Curry, enforcement group manHeatcare’s customer base were elderly ager at the ICO, said: “Since the governand/ or vulnerable, and it was with this in ment changed the law in 2015 to make it mind that the FEP Heatcare maintenance easier for us to fine the companies behind customer base was purchased by my comnuisance calls, we’ve issued more than pany, HSP Gas Limited, trading as Home £2.7 million in penalties. Service Plan.

“It’s a figure that sends out a clear mes“All FEP warranties, maintenance consage that the companies behind this nuitracts and works in progress are honoured by HSP, and we are pleased to note that HSP have achieved continuity in service for these customers.”

He said staff have been retained, where possible, and added: “I will now focus my attention on turning around the fortunes of this loss making business, and strive to provide our customers with good value central heating services.”

Last week Nottingham Crown Court heard how cold caller Barbara Stone “hounded an elderly couple to their deaths”, contacting pensioners John and Olga Moyle daily for months, leaving them £74,000 in debt. December 7 last year.

FEP Heatcare is owned by Alan and Laura Ann Bonnyman but their son Craig ran the company, and the tribunal ruling noted Craig “agreed that he acted as a director of the company although he was not registered as such”.

The firm went to Airdrie Sheriff Court on December 28 last year with a petition to wind up the company and appoint a liquidator – seven days before the ICO said it wou ld have expected contact over payment of the fine.

FEP’s boiler contract work was transferred to a new company because there was “a very real possibility” customers would “not have access to central heating repair services during the coldest months of year”, according to Bonnyman.

According to records at Companies House, he used a London-based pre-pack company formation agent to set up HSP Gas Limited, of which he is sole director, on December 20 last year – 13 days after FEP Heatcare was hit with its first warning from the ICO back in April, 2015 after a spike in complaints to the Telephone Preference Service about unsolicited phone calls from the Glasgow-based boiler firm.

Craig Bonnyman, signing as a director of FEP, wrote to the ICO saying he would cease all telemarketing, but the watchdog put the firm under investigation.

The ICO’s probe found that between April 6 and July 15, 2015 FEP instigated 2,692,217 automated calls of which 934,176 connected and 1,758,041 failed to connect.

The calls did not mention FEP Heatcare which the ICO concluded was done to “deliberately frustrate any attempt to identify the maker of the automated calls”.

It was at this time Craig set up Centura Direct Marketing as a standalone telemarketing data firm, a move the tribunal concluded was, “part of the strategy of concealing FEP’s use of telemarketing.”

FEP was then told it would be hit with an £180,000 fine. But the company claimed it couldn’t afford the penalty after being the victim of a £300,000 embezzlement relating to the alleged theft of boilers.

FEP’s appeal case disputed the number of calls the ICO claimed it had made.

The ICO rejected the appeal but after a “reconsideration of the category of failed calls” dropped the fine to £160,000.

The tribunal backed the ICO stance and in its summary, issued in December 2016, stated: “It was clear to the tribunal that FEP was for several years a poorly controlled and badly managed company.”

The tribunal concluded firm owner Alan Bonnyman had “been asleep at the wheel” as his son Craig – “acting as a de facto director, had unfettered control of marketing and sales activity...with a reckless abandon and frequently acting hastily and without thought he embarked on telemarketing with no knowledge of the legal framework [a code of conduct for marketing calls]”.

They added: “He [Craig] misled the ICO about ceasing telemarketing and on his instructions FEP’s solicitors wrote to the ICO a letter which was significantly misleading”.

The tribunal also found; “Craig Bonnyman an unsatisfactory witness.”

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