Companies that star in hit BBC Three reality TV series The Call Centre slapped with £225,000 fine for nuisance PPI calls
By TARA EVANS
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Two companies that appear in BBC Three TV series The Call Centre have been fined £225,000 for nuisance payment protection insurance calls.
The Information Commissioner’s Office issued penalties to Nationwide Energy Service and We Claim You Gain – both firms that feature in the light-hearted fly-on-the wall documentary following the personal and professional lives of eccentric boss Nev Wilshire and his team.
The fines were issued by the ICO in response to 2,700 complaints between May 2011 and the end of last year.
Fine: Television programme, 'The Call Centre', shows boss Nev Wilshire in his Swansea based office. Two of his firms have been fined a total of £225,000 for nuisance PPI calls.
The ICO said that ‘neither company carried out adequate checks to see whether people they were calling had registered with the Telephone Preference Service, which is a legal requirement'.
The Swansea based companies are part of Save Britain Money Ltd and a spokesman said that neither accepts that a fine ‘is the appropriate course of action'.
A spokesman added that the companies are issuing a formal appeal and that they ‘remain committed to the best interests’ of customers at this time.
Problems: Nev Wilshire with admin assistant Kayleigh Davies from BBC Three fly-on-the wall-documentary 'The Call Centre'. The ICO said that the fine was issued after 2,700 complaints were received.
A spokesman from the BBC said: 'The Call Centre is a highly successful BBC Three observational documentary. The BBC purely documents this workplace and the lives of those involved in it.
'The Call Centre, like all BBC programmes went through robust editorial processes and compliance and we are confident that the programme is a balanced and fair representation of life in that place of work.'
Simon Entwisle, director of operations at the ICO, said: ‘The public have told us that they are fed up with the constant bombardment of nuisance calls. While the activities of Nev and his call centre employees have provided entertainment for many, they hide a bigger problem within the cold calling industry.
‘People have the legal right not to receive marketing calls and these companies have paid the price for failing to respect people’s wishes.’
Boss: Nev Wilshire, chief executive of Swansea's third biggest call centre. A spokesman said the firms would be seeking an appeal on the fine.
Earlier this year consumer group Which? launched a campaign to end nuisance calls and texts – it has received almost 62,000 votes of support from consumers so far.
Which? executive director, Richard Lloyd, said: ‘Thousands of people have told us they are sick and tired of being bombarded with nuisance calls and texts, so it’s good to see the Information Commissioner’s Office doing more to punish companies who are breaking the rules.
‘Given the scale of this problem, it’s time for the Government and telecoms providers to step in too, with new laws and new technology to tackle this scourge on people’s everyday lives.
‘The ICO and other regulators must be given more power to properly police how our personal data is used, so we can call time on nuisance calls and texts.’
The ICO has issued fines totalling more than £750,000 to companies who have breached Privacy and Electronic Communications regulations. It is carrying out ten more investigations.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/money/news/article-2343790/Call-centres-BBC-Three-programme-hit-225-000-fine-nuisance-PPI-calls.html#ixzz2Waz6WTRz
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