Reliance Advisory Limited (RAL), based in Bury Greater Manchester, were fined £250,000 for making 15.1 million nuisance calls over a 6-month period from the beginning of 2019. The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) received 85 complaints from members of the public who had not consented to receive the calls.
Many of the complainants stated that the persistent callers were often aggressive and rude, ultimately causing them distress. Some reported that that they were receiving 3 or 4 calls a day, one stated that when they asked the caller to stop, as they had just had a death in the family, the amount of calls increased.
(1) Mr Andy Curry, Head of Investigations at the ICO, said:
“Nuisance calls continue to be a matter of great distress, annoyance and significant concern for the public and we will continue to find and take action against the worst offenders.
“The law exists for a reason, and that is to protect people from this high degree of intrusion into their private lives. Businesses must respect the law and the onus is on them to be aware of their responsibilities. Pleading ignorance of the rules, as was put forward in this case, will never be a valid argument.”
RAL did argue that they were unaware of their legal responsibilities.
Their calls were in relation to claims management services such as mis-sold PPI. For the majority of the 1.1 million calls that connected, they could not provide evidence that they had been freely given consent.
On 8 September 2018, a law came into force banning direct marketing, unsolicited calls relating to claims management services. This can be found in regulation 21A of the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulation 2003 (PECR).
(1) Reference to ICO news article dated 29 October 2020 https://ico.org.uk/about-the-ico/news-and-events/news-and-blogs/