ICO cuts off two firms as war on rogue calls continues

The Information Commissioner’s Office might have seen an increased workload since GDPR came into force last month but it is not wavering from its fight against so-called nuisance calls, with a fresh round of action against another two firms found to be breaking the law.
Chorley-based Our Vault and Swansea-based Horizon Windows have both been slapped with Enforcement Notices ordering them to “cease and desist” their illegal marketing activity.
As well as the notice, Our Vault has also been fined £70,000 for making 55,534 unsolicited marketing calls to people who had registered with the Telephone Preference Service and had not consented to being contacted by the company.
Despite claiming that all their personal data was checked against the TPS, the investigation found Our Vault was banged to rights as the firm had never held nor requested a TPS licence. The calls were designed to sell the financial products of a sister company – ST&R Limited – under the guise of market research.
In a separate ICO investigation, Horizon Windows received the Enforcement Notice for making 104 unsolicited marketing calls to people registered with the TPS between January 2016 and January 2017.
ICO head of enforcement Steve Eckersley said: “Both of these firms have shown disrespect for the law and people’s privacy.
“Our Vault made more than 55,500 direct marketing calls to people who had made clear that they did not want to receive them. This is unacceptable and it is against the law. In one instance, a gentleman was contacted 19 times, despite letting them know he wasn’t interested.
“Horizon Windows has been ordered to stop its unlawful marketing activities.
“We continue to target the companies and individuals responsible and hold them to account, but we can’t crack down on these organisations without the public’s help. I’d urge anyone who has been targeted by nuisance calls, emails or texts, to report them to the ICO.”
In May, the Government finally announced a consultation on proposals to make directors of companies personally liable for fines of up to £500,000 for breaches of the Privacy & Electronic Communications Regulations (PECR), following repeated calls from the ICO, the DMA and Decision Marketing’s “Call Time on Rogue Marketers” campaign.