Silent Callers Face Two Million Pound Fines

UK companies making silent calls - which can result from automated diallers in call centres getting more answered calls than staff are available to handle - now face fines of up to £2m following a vote by MPs this week.

The increase in the maximum fine from the level of £50,000, introduced in 2006, was first urged by telecoms regulator Ofcom back in March, and will now come into force in a week's time.

Ofcom, which says it gets more complaints on silent calls than any other topic (more than 6,500 in 2009), will impose the fines on companies making too many such calls to people in their homes. This level is currently defined as more than 3% of the calls the company makes in a 24-hour period.

Ofcom Chief Executive Ed Richards says the increase 'reflects the potential seriousness of the harm caused to consumers by the unsolicited and intrusive nature of silent and abandoned calls and enables Ofcom to effectively regulate these activities.'

Communications minister Ed Vaizey said Ofcom had felt hampered by the small maximum fine and had taken informal action against 22 companies since fining Barclaycard in 2008. Vaizey added that the new higher fine could also be imposed for other offences including persistent misuse of automated calling systems, number scanning or persistent withholding of calling line identification facilities.

Labour MP Kevin Brennan expressed dismay that as 'part of their business model' UK companies 'phone up citizens in their homes in the full knowledge that a percentage of those phone calls will result in a nuisance, silent call or an abandoned call...'

The Direct Marketing Association (DMA) welcomed the latest move. Spokesperson Caroline Roberts stressed that telemarketing practitioners should adhere to best practice as outlined in the DMA's code, and said it was 'therefore essential that companies in breach of industry regulations are penalised accordingly'.

Web site: www.ofcom.org.uk .

All articles 2006-23 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas, 2024- by Nick Thomas, unless otherwise stated.