ICO slaps Scots firm with £200k fine for cold calls

The Information Commissioner’s Office has imposed a £200,000 fine on a Scottish firm authorised to make green energy assessments by the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC).

Home Energy & Lifestyle Management Ltd. (HELM), based in Cambuslang, was slapped with the fine for making six million nuisance cold calls over three months.

The ICO said the company failed to comply with direct marketing rules, and had admitted it did not even know what the rules were.

Between October-December 2014, the ICO received a total of 242 complaints about unsolicited phone calls from HELM.

Steve Eckersley, head of enforcement at the ICO (pictured), said: “This company’s ignorance of the law is beyond belief.

“It didn’t even bother to find out what the rules were and its badly thought out marketing campaign made people’s lives a misery.

“The monetary penalty is for a significant amount because of the clear failings of the company, and the number of people affected by its deliberate and unlawful campaign.

“It should be a warning to other companies to think before they launch into a campaign. Direct marketing campaigns can be run within the law with a little thought and there’s plenty of advice available to companies in the ICO’s website.”