Solar panel spammer hit by UK’s biggest ever nuisance calls fine

The UK's data privacy watchdog has issued its largest ever fine for a nuisance caller, £200,000, after a solar panels provider was found culpable for recklessly breaking marketing call regulations.

An Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) investigation discovered that Glasgow-based Home Energy & Lifestyle Management Ltd (HELM) made more than six million automated calls as part of a campaign offering "free" solar panels.

An organisation should have people’s permission, which specifically names the company concerned, in order to make automated calls, but the ICO found that HELM had failed to follow the rules, which executives were later obliged to admit they didn’t even know.

The ICO received 242 complaints about HELM between October and December 2014, a large number that explains why the ICO began its investigation.

One complainant stated they were waiting for news of a terminally ill family member and couldn’t ignore the phone, leaving them unable to ignore an irritating stream of automated calls. Another said they felt like their home had been invaded as the answer machine filled up with calls from the company.

The calls were often repeated and it was not always possible to connect to a person or to stop the calls by pressing an option button. Adding insult to injury, ICO investigators concluded that the calls were misleading because the solar panels were not necessarily free, as implied by the recorded message.

HELM is part of the Government Green Deal initiative, which is designed to help people make energy-saving improvements to their homes.

“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," said Steve Eckersley, head of enforcement at the ICO.

"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," he added.

Other marketing firms should take HELM’s case as a warning of what they face if they fail to follow ethical tele-marketing practices, according to Eckersley, who added that plenty of advice on running direct marketing campaigns within the law is available via the ICO’s website.

The guidance covers the circumstances in which organisations are able to carry out marketing over the phone, by text, by email, by post or by fax.

The advice covers requirements for direct marketing laid down by the Data Protection Act and the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations, the two most applicable pieces of UK legislation. ®