Energy Efficiency Firm Fined £45k For Nuisance Calls

A company selling solar panels and insulation has been fined £45,000 for “blighting the public” with nuisance calls, the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) said today.

Tameside Energy Services would have been hit with a £90,000 fine but the ICO cut it in half due to the company’s poor financial situation.

Nuisance call pain

More than 1,000 complaints were lodged with the Telephone Preference Service (TPS) between 26 May 2011 and 31 January 2013 about the company’s unwanted marketing calls. An 80-year-old lady complained after she still received calls despite having told Tameside Energy Services to stop 20 separate times.

The firm should not have called anyone registered with the TPS, but it did not carry out appropriate checks.

“This is not the first and will not be the last monetary penalty issued by the ICO for unwanted marketing calls. These companies need to listen – bombarding the public with cold calls will not be tolerated,” said Simon Entwisle, ICO director of operations.

“We are continuing our work with the industry, government and other regulators, including Ofcom, to co-ordinate our efforts to tackle this problem.

“We would like to see the law changed to make it simpler for us to punish companies responsible for repeated and continuous breaches of the law.”

Last month, the ICO fined the company at the heart of BBC Three programme ‘The Call Centre’ £225,000 for nuisance call offences, but the firm is planning to fight the fine.

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