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Scottish home improvement company fined for making 2.5 million nuisance calls

A home improvements company that made 2.5 million recorded phone calls has been fined £50,000 by the Information Commissioner.

The unwanted calls were made by Nevis Home Improvements Ltd, based in Glasgow. People who picked up the phone heard a recorded message promoting the firm’s energy saving services.

An ICO investigation, prompted by 175 complaints, traced the calls to Nevis Home Improvements Ltd even though the phone messages did not identify who was making the call.

Ken Macdonald, Assistant Information Commissioner for Scotland, said:

“More and more of our investigations involve companies that make unwanted recorded marketing calls.

“Six of our last eight fines have been for calls playing a recorded message. It’s time they got our message – if you don’t follow the rules, we will track you down and take action.”

Calls that play a recorded message must only be made to people who have given the organisation their permission to receive this type of call. Nevis Home Improvements Ltd did not have that consent. Messages must also identify who made the call.

The ICO found that the company instigated 2,530,549 automated marketing calls between May and August 2015. Some 1,538,682 of them were connected.

The kind of calls Nevis Home Improvements Ltd was making – recorded and about energy services – generated the most complaints to the ICO in March this year. Combined with automated calls about PPI, they made up 66% of recorded complaints to the ICO.

Nevis Home Improvements Ltd is the 19th company that the ICO has fined since the law changed to make it easier to crack down on nuisance callers.

Since the change in April last year, the ICO has issued fines totalling £2,035,000 compared with just £360,000 during the previous 12 months.

The ICO is the regulatory body in Scotland for data protection issues and Ken Macdonald leads its offices in Scotland and Northern Ireland. Scotland also has its own Information Commissioner to regulate the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act that covers Scottish public authorities.

Notes to editors

  1. The Information Commissioner’s Office upholds information rights in the public interest, promoting openness by public bodies and data privacy for individuals.
  2. The ICO has specific responsibilities set out in the Data Protection Act 1998, the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) 2000, Environmental Information Regulations (EIR) 2004 and Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations 2003.
  3. The ICO can take action to change the behaviour of organisations and individuals that collect, use and keep personal information. This includes criminal prosecution, non-criminal enforcement and audit. The ICO has the power to impose a monetary penalty on a data controller of up to £500,000.
  4. Anyone who processes personal information must comply with eight principles of the Data Protection Act, which make sure that personal information is:
    • fairly and lawfully processed;
    • processed for limited purposes;
    • adequate, relevant and not excessive;
    • accurate and up to date;
    • not kept for longer than is necessary;
    • processed in line with your rights;
    • secure; and
    • not transferred to other countries without adequate protection.
  5. The Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations (PECR) sit alongside the Data Protection Act. They give people specific privacy rights in relation to electronic communications.
    1. There are specific rules on:
      • marketing calls, emails, texts and faxes;
      • cookies (and similar technologies);
      • keeping communications services secure; and
      • customer privacy as regards traffic and location data, itemised billing, line identification, and directory listings.
    2. We aim to help organisations comply with PECR and promote good practice by offering advice and guidance. We will take enforcement action against organisations that persistently ignore their obligations.
  6. Civil Monetary Penalties (CMPs) are subject to a right of appeal to the (First-tier Tribunal) General Regulatory Chamber against the imposition of the monetary penalty and/or the amount of the penalty specified in the monetary penalty notice.
  7. Any monetary penalty is paid into the Treasury’s Consolidated Fund and is not kept by the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO).
  8. To report a concern to the ICO telephone our helpline 0303 123 1113 or go to ico.org.uk/concerns/
Channel website: https://ico.org.uk/

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