Nuisance phone call bosses to face £500,000 fines
ROGUE bosses who hound the public with millions of nuisance calls will soon be liable for individual fines of up to £500,000, the Government has announced. In a victory for The Sunday Telegraph, ministers are closing a loophole that allows company directors to claim bankruptcy for firms that are fined, thereby “dodging” payment. Campaigners praised the “massive victory” while the official watchdog said it would help bring down cold-callers who are leaving people “shaken and distressed”. This newspaper has repeatedly highlighted how failures in the current set-up mean companies found guilty of nuisance calls were not paying up. Earlier this year it was revealed that of 20 firms penalised, 15
had gone bust or declared themselves insolvent. Currently only companies can be fined up to £500,000 by the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), but under the new rules directors can be personally fined the same amount.
The move also effectively lifts the cap on penalties, with each director potentially liable – making overall fines of £1 million or more increasingly likely.
Matt Hancock, the minister for digital and culture, said: “Nuisance callers are a blight on society, causing significant distress to elderly and vulnerable people. We have been clear that we will not stand for this continued harassment, and this latest amendment to the law will strike another blow to those businesses and company bosses responsible.” The change will be made through the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations and will come into effect next spring.
In recent years this newspaper has exposed the bosses behind firms that blight the public with millions of nuisance calls and revealed how limits in rules means fines are not being paid. Louis Kidd, a programmer and guitar enthusiast in his twenties, helped found a company that was fined £350,000 for making 40 million nuisance phone calls in four months.
The automated calls, relating to claims for the mis-selling of payment protection insurance (PPI), hit homes across Britain at the rate of over 330,000 a day.
However the firm, Prodial Ltd, was put into liquidation in November when the ICO was closing in – decreasing the likelihood any fine would be paid. Tony Abbott, who drove a £200,000 McLaren sports car and bought a 25- room mansion in the Home Counties, also ran a firm fined for cold calling.
Reactiv Media was fined £75,000 by the official watchdog for making intrusive phone calls, but was eventually put into the hands of receivers, leaving the ICO out of pocket.
Under the old rules, rogue bosses have no personal liabilities and are free to start up new firms carrying out the same business, but now that loophole will be closed.
Elizabeth Denham, the information commissioner, said: “We are inundated with complaints from people who are left shaken and distressed by the intrusion on their daily lives.”
“Making directors responsible will stop them ducking away from fines by putting their company into liquidation,” she added.