A Lancashire based claims manager has been fined £850,000 for bombarding people with millions of nuisance calls. The dodgy claims company made nearly 6 million calls between October 2014 and April 2015 about noise induced hearing loss claims.
Many of those called by National Advice Clinic were registered with the Telephone Preference Service which led to almost two thousand complaining to Ofcom.
That led to today’s fine by the Claims Management Regulator, the biggest fine it has issued, on the firm which also trades under the names the Industrial Hearing Clinic or the Central Compensation Office.
“This company’s cold-calling campaign was deliberate and sustained, and a flagrant breach of our marketing requirements,” said Claims Management Regulator head Kevin Rousell. “They showed an alarming disregard for the misery their tactics can cause, particularly to elderly and vulnerable people.”
The Regulator was given new powers to fine nuisance callers last December and has since been forced to act four times, landing firms with penalties totalling £1.6m.
Earlier this year Ofcom warned that nuisance calls are getting out of control with 86 per cent people reporting receiving one in a four week period. Those who received nuisance calls got an average of ten in the four week period, but one ten in got more than 20 calls.
These types of calls and messages risk causing severe stress and anxiety for vulnerable people,” warned StepChange Debt Charity’s Head of Policy Peter Tutton. “The current methods of dealing with these potentially harmful calls are clearly ineffective. We must now see more action from government and regulators. The Telephone Preference Service should be made an opt-out service for all households.”
