£80,000 fine from the Information Commissioner’s Office for unlawful marketing calls

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has fined a company selling funeral plans £80,000 for making unlawful marketing calls to people registered with the Telephone Preference Service (TPS).

The company made almost 52,000 calls to people who were registered with the TPS between 1 March and 20 November 2017.In defence the company said it had purchased numbers from a third-party lead provider but could not prove that it had specific consent to call people registered on the TPS. The investigation found it had failed to carry out proper due diligence or check the numbers against the TPS register.

In addition to the £80k fine, the business has also been served with an Enforcement Notice ordering it to improve its practices.