Nuisance call firm Keurboom hit with record fine

[Raptor]

A cold-calling firm has been fined a record £400,000 by the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) for making almost 100 million nuisance calls.
Keurboom Communications called people, sometimes at night, to see if they were eligible for road-accident or PPI compensation, the ICO said.
It breached privacy laws by calling people without their consent.
The company has since gone into liquidation but the ICO said it was committed to recovering the fine.
It said it had received more than 1,000 complaints about automated calls from the Bedfordshire-registered company.
Hidden identity

The ICO said Keurboom Communications called some people repeatedly and during unsociable hours.
It also hid its identity so that people would find it harder to complain.
"The unprecedented scale of its campaign and Keurboom's failure to co-operate with our investigation has resulted in the largest fine issued by the Information Commissioner for nuisance calls," said Steve Eckersley, head of enforcement at the ICO.
Keurboom director Greg Rudd told the Mirror newspaper that he found cold-calling "annoying" but said it was "part of life".
"I don't enjoy receiving them but that doesn't make them illegal," he said.
However the ICO said making automatic marketing calls without people's consent was illegal.
"Keurboom showed scant regard for the rules," said Mr Eckersley.
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In October, the government announced plans to let the ICO fine company directors as well as their businesses.
"Making directors responsible will stop them avoiding fines by putting their company into liquidation," the ICO said.
The watchdog said 2016/17 had been its busiest year for nuisance call investigations, with 23 companies fined a total of £1.9m.
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[Mickey]

Should have been 400million fine

[Bald Bouncer]

The company has since gone into liquidation but the ICO said it was committed to recovering the fine.

Think that say's it all really, they won't get shit as I can't see any telemarketing company having any tangible assets, the new company is probably already up and running

[Rhinoz]

Should ban the directors/CEO from owning any company again, they obviously disregard the law and cause more than just an inconvenience to lots of people, as you said BB they won't even being paying it.

[MHP]

They should sort out the UK telecommunication act. The government skirted round the problems last year and brought about the 'valid call identity' legislation but this has little effect on calls that are routed outside of the UK or via VOIP.