ICO Fines Company £250,000 Over Nuisance Calls

By Kristen Zanoni | November 5, 2020

Category: Legal News

The U.K.’s Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has imposed a £250,000 fine on a business for breaking the law by making millions of nuisance calls.

Reliance Advisory Limited (RAL) reportedly made more than 15 million nuisance calls during a six month period in 2019, InfoSecurity Magazine reported.

A flurry of complaints came in to the ICO from victims of the nuisance calls. Many said they received multiple calls daily by RAL, and some even noted the callers were aggressive or disrespectful, according to InfoSecurity.

Nuisance calls were banned two years ago, as stated in the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations 2003.

And according to the Data Protection Act of 1998, “A person must not use, or instigate the use of, a public electronic communications service to make unsolicited calls for the purposes of direct marketing.”

RAL insists the company did not know about the law, according to InfoSecurity.

Determining consent is crucial, but an ICO investigation found that RAL could not show evidence for most of its nuisance calls, according to Insurance Business UK. When RAL did try to provide evidence for its calls, it showed consent was not openly given, concise or informed.

RAL’s ignorance and its failure to provide evidence of obtaining consent were the grounds for the ICO fine.

In 2019, Insurance Business UK says, the ICO received more than 129,000 complaints about nuisance calls and texts; 3,792 were regarding car, home or life insurance.

Andrew Stevens from Quadient said that 129,000 number may inaccurate, as many calls could go underreported, Insurance Business UK reported.

“Such a large volume of calls and texts cannot be blamed on just a few bad apples,” Stevens told Insurance Business UK. “From damaging long-term relationships to risking an ICO fine, businesses will face the consequences if they can’t give consumers the information they want, when they want it, on the channel they request.”

Stevens added that right now, businesses have an even bigger responsibility to follow the nuisance call laws while people are stuck at home during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The ICO has continued to receive customer complaints about nuisance calls from companies.

One complaint reads: “They call when my baby is asleep and wake her up. They disrupt my day. My husband is in the military and can rarely call me, when they call, I think it’s him and then I’m disappointed it’s them again.”

Another person complained to the ICO about multiple daily nuisance calls.

“I receive 3 or 4 calls a day from this number,” the complaint said. “I have asked them to stop calling and now they are calling 3 or 4 times a day. I have just lost my mum and have told them to stop but they have been making more calls.”

“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,” said Andy Curry, the ICO’s head of investigations. “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.

“We encourage members of the public to report nuisance calls, texts and emails to us.”

Residents of the U.K. who are receiving nuisance calls, emails or texts can contact the ICO to report them. The ICO offers live chats or a helpline on 0303 123 1113.

Have you received nuisance calls? Do you take the time to report them to the ICO? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.

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