The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has fined a Bournemouth home improvement company for bombarding people on the UK’s ‘do not call’ register with unlawful marketing calls.

Skean Homes Ltd was fined £100,000 for instigating over 600,000 unsolicited marketing calls between March and May 2022 to people who had registered with the TPS. The contact from Skean Homes Ltd resulted in 31 complaints.

The company, which claimed to help improve energy efficiency and reduce household bills, used various false names during the calls, such as ‘Eco Hub,’ ‘Driveway Solutions’ and Eco Driveways’. Complaints revealed that the calls were promoting everything from loft insulation to resin driveways, and that the company sometimes claimed to be part of the local council.

Skean Homes Ltd refused to take responsibility for the unlawful marketing calls, claiming they had allowed their lead generation provider to temporarily use their caller identities (CLIs) and that TPS checks failed due to a technical error. The ICO’s investigation found no evidence that a third party was using the CLIs when the unsolicited calls were made.

It is against the law for organisations to make marketing calls to anyone signed up with the Telephone Preference Service (TPS) and Corporate Telephone Preference Service (CTPS), which operate a ‘do not call’ register, unless the individual or business has explicitly consented to receive these calls.

Andy Curry, ICO head of investigations, said: “People register with the TPS for a clear reason: to stop unwanted marketing contact and protect their privacy.”

He added that Skean Homes Ltd not only broke the law by failing to check the ‘do not call’ register, but also caused distress and disruption to those they bombarded with unwanted and unlawful calls.

Mr Curry said: “The fine should send a clear message that companies cannot use third parties or multiple phone numbers to avoid detection and taking responsibility for illegal calls. We will take decisive action to ensure the public are protected from nuisance marketing.”

In addition to the fines, the ICO has also issued an Enforcement Notice to Skean Homes Ltd ordering them to stop calling people registered with the TPS, or who had previously objected to such calls.

Members of the public can register landlines and mobile numbers with the Telephone Preference Service (TPS) at https://www.tpsonline.org.uk/  and the Corporate Telephone Preference Service (CTPS) https://www.tpsonline.org.uk/register/corporate_tps  free of charge.