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ICO

‘Significant’ investigation into Tory call centre allegations

 960 640 Stuart O'Brien
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South Wales Police have confirmed they are carrying out a ‘significant’ investigation of the Blue Telecoms call centre which operated on behalf of the Conservative party in the run up to the general election.

An undercover investigation by Channel 4 at the Blue Telecoms call centre in South Wales claimed that the centre broke data protection and election law.

Thousands of calls were made to voters in marginal seats in the weeks leading up to the election. Workers read from scripts, with calls made on the day of the election promoting individual candidates, which could break election law.

South Wales Police confirmed the investigation in a letter to Labour MP Wayne David.

“Rest assured that the officers within this department have the required specialist skills and expertise for this often challenging area of business and will, as with all investigations, act in a diligent and expeditious manner,” the letter said.

Mr David, Labour MP for Caerphilly, said: “I am pleased that both the police and the Information Commissioner’s Office are conducting detailed investigations.

“The allegations that the Conservative Party and Blue Telecoms broke electoral law during a general election campaign are extremely serious and the public need to have confidence in our electoral process. That is fundamental to our democracy.”

A spokesman for South Wales Police said: “South Wales Police is currently reviewing information received in regards to Blue Telecoms.

“It would be inappropriate to comment further at this time.”

£400K fine for Keurboom Communications

 960 720 Stuart O'Brien
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A call centre that made over 100 million nuisance calls in 18 months has been fined a record £400,000 by the data watchdog.

More than 1,000 people complained to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) over automated calls regarding PPI compensation and road accident claims.

The ICO said that the automated calls from Keurboom Communications, registered in Dunstable, Bedfordshire, had caused “upset and distress” to many people, and did not have the consent of the people it was making the calls to – meaning it was in breach of the law. Keurboom had also hidden its identity, making it much more difficult for people to complain.

Steve Eckerlsey, head of enforcement at the ICO, said: “Keurboom showed scant regard for the rules, causing upset and distress to people unfortunate enough to be on the receiving end of one its 100 million calls.

“The unprecedented scale of its campaign and Keurboom’s failure to cooperate with our investigation has resulted in the largest fine issued by the information commissioner for nuisance calls.”

“These calls have now stopped – as has Keurboom – but our work has not. We’ll continue to track down companies that blight people’s lives with nuisance calls, texts and emails.”

Keurboom has been placed in voluntary liquidation and the ICO plans to recover the fine through liquidators and insolvency practitioners. The company director, Gregory Rudd, escaped without the ICO being able to fine him directly, however the Government plans to introduce a law allowing the watchdog to fine the bosses of nuisance call centres.

During the investigation, the ICO issued seven information notices demanding Keurboom provide information, which it failed to comply with. In April 2016 the company and its director were prosecuted and fined £1,500 and £1,000 respectively at Luton Magistrates Court.

Call Centre

Staff left ‘unpaid’ as call centre fined £270,000

 960 640 Stuart O'Brien
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Staff at a call centre claim they have been left unpaid after the company was handed one of the biggest fines in consumer history for making nuisance calls.

Basingstoke-based Media Tactics was fined £270,000 by the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) in March for making 22 million nuisance phone calls to members of the public.

The ICO said Media Tactics had left some consumers “too frightened to answer any calls at all.”

In an interview with the Basingstoke Gazette, a staff member described how employees had been told on March 29th that they wouldn’t be getting paid.

“The manager just said it was because of the fine that the company had to go into liquidation. There [were] about 40 staff in the meeting and we were all let go.

“In the recent weeks, we had been asked to take a 10% pay cut to help the company and to stop redundancies happening. It’s awful really for those people who have worked at the company for years.”

The fine was handed out to Media Tactics after the ICO found that the company did not have permission to make automated marketing calls, which played a recorded message, to people who had not agreed to receiving them.

182 complaints were made against Media Tactics on the ICO’s online reporting tool.

A spokesperson for the ICO said: “While, in some respects, it marks a frustrating end to our investigations it’s worth noting that when nuisance call companies go out of business, they stop making calls. And that’s a successful outcome.”

The fine was one of the biggest ever given to a call centre by the ICO for making nuisance calls.