Company fined £850,000 for millions of nuisance calls

A company that bombarded households with millions of nuisance calls about hearing loss claims has been fined £850,000.

The National Advice Clinic, based in Lancashire, made almost six million calls between October last year and April about noise-induced hearing loss claims, the Claims Management Regulator (CMR) said.

Many calls made by the clinic, which also goes under the name of the Industrial Hearing Clinic or the Central Compensation Office, went to households registered with the opt-out Telephone Preference Service (TPS) system.

Ofcom received almost two thousand complaints about the calls.

Claims Management Regulator Kevin Rousell said: "This company's cold-calling campaign was deliberate and sustained, and a flagrant breach of our marketing requirements.

"They showed an alarming disregard for the misery their tactics can cause, particularly to elderly and vulnerable people.

"The size of this penalty demonstrates how seriously we take this issue - nuisance calls will not be tolerated."

Justice minister Lord Faulks said: "Nuisance calls are a real scourge to households, and people have simply had enough.

"I am pleased the regulator has imposed such a substantial fine for such blatant and shocking behaviour.

"This follows other large fines and the removal of over a thousand licenses from claims management companies since 2010.

"The Government is committed to protecting the public from this nuisance - that at best wastes people's time and at worst causes significant distress."