Vale & West Chartered Accountants Blog

Alternative law firm fined for making “millions” of unsolicited PPI phone calls

An alternative law firm has been fined for making millions of unsolicited nuisance PPI phone calls.

According to the Information Commissioners Office (ICO), Miss-Sold Products UK Limited made “close to 75 million” automated marketing calls containing a recorded message about PPI refunds.

In May 2017, the company was issued with a £350,000 penalty for making unsolicited marketing calls to people “without their specific consent” and for “failing to include a company name and contact details in the recorded message”.

However, the company failed to pay the debt and was wound-up through the courts in June 2018.

Upon liquidation, investigators discovered that the director of Miss-Sold Products UK, Richard Jones, was also using a second company, Your Money Rights Limited, as an “additional vehicle to make unsolicited PPI calls”.

It was found that this second business made a further 146 million automated marketing calls to people “who had not been consented to be called” with a recorded message about PPI refunds.

This resulted in a second fine of £350,000. However, Your Money Rights Limited was also unable to pay the debt and was wound up in March 2018.

According to the Insolvency Service, Richard Jones had caused the two companies to breach the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations, resulting in the business’ collapse.

The director was subsequently banned for eight years from directly or indirectly becoming involved in the promotion, formation, or management of further companies.

Commenting on the case, Andy Curry, ICO Investigations Group Manager, said: “Richard Jones is one of the worst offenders we have come across in the 15 years since laws around electronic nuisance marketing were introduced. This disqualification which takes him out of action is good news for all those who have been a victim of his cold calling and should be a warning to other operators who use similar marketing techniques.

“The net is tightening and we now have increased powers to make directors and other company officers responsible personally liable for fines of up to £500,000 for nuisance marketing.”

David Brooks, Chief Investigator for the Insolvency Service, added: “There are no justifications Richard Jones could provide that would have excused him from what he had done. Not only did he use two separate companies to make the unsolicited phone calls but we are talking about millions of intrusive calls rather than a small handful.

“Unsolicited phone calls cause misery and harm to unsuspecting people and being banned for eight years will put a significant dent on Richard Jones’ ability to do something similar again.”

As the dates of the breaches fell before 25 May 2018, neither companies were subject to stricter penalties under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

Under GDPR, legal firms must document both a lawful basis for processing personal data and also a condition for processing special categories of data.

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