Company Fined £350k For 46 Million Cold Calls

The largest-ever fine for cold-calling has been handed down by the Information Commissioner's Office.

Brighton-based company Prodial was fined £350,000 for generating more than 46 million spam calls.

More than 1,000 people complained to the ICO about the automated message calls they had received from the company, which related to PPI claims.

Information Commissioner Christopher Graham said: "This is one of the worst cases of cold calling we have ever come across.

"The volume of calls made in just a few months was staggering.

"This was a company that knew it was breaking the law.

"A company director admitted that once the ICO became involved, the company shut down.

"That stopped the calls, but we want to send a clear message to other firms that this type of law-breaking will not pay.

"That is why we have handed out our highest ever fine."

Complainants said they were called repeatedly day and night, and given no chance to opt out, leaving them feeling "helpless".

One complaint was from a doctor who said the constant nuisance calls interfered with his work, as he always had to answer the phone in case it was a medical emergency.

Prodial operated out of a residential property and hid its identity, which made it harder for people to report the calls.

Companies can use internet phone lines to call huge numbers of people with recorded marketing messages, but can only phone people who have specifically consented to being contacted in this way.

The ICO said Prodial had not received consent.

The company has since been placed into voluntary liquidation by one of its directors and the ICO is working with the liquidators to recover the fine.