Enforcement action

We Buy Any Car Limited

15 September 2021, Monetary penalties, Retail and manufacture

The ICO has fined We Buy Any Car Limited £200,000. It sent 191.4 million marketing emails and 3.6 million marketing SMS messages to individuals without fully satisfying the requirements of the soft opt in, resulting in 42 complaints to the Commissioner, over a period of twelve months.

Saga Services Limited

15 September 2021, Monetary penalties, Finance insurance and credit

The ICO has fined Saga Services Ltd £150,000 for sending messages containing direct marketing material, for which subscribers had not provided valid consent.

Saga Personal Finance Limited

15 September 2021, Monetary penalties, Finance insurance and credit

The ICO has fined Saga Personal Finance Ltd £75,000 for sending 28,523,745 unsolicited direct marketing messages. These messages contained direct marketing material for which subscribers had not provided valid consent.

SportsDirect.com Retail Ltd

15 September 2021, Monetary penalties, Retail and manufacture

The ICO has fined SportsDirect.com £70,000 for sending a total of 2,565,513 direct marketing messages without consent.

DialADeal Scotland Ltd

05 September 2021, Monetary penalties, Retail and manufacture

The ICO has fined DialADeal Scotland Ltd £150 000 for making unsolicited direct marketing calls to subscribers who were registered with the TPS and who had not provided valid consent.

Parkin Beacher Ltd

19 August 2021, Monetary penalties, Marketing

The ICO has fined Halifax-based company Parkin Beacher Ltd (PBL) £50,000 for making illegal marketing calls to people about their pensions.

Yes Consumer Solutions Ltd

02 August 2021, Monetary penalties, Marketing

Yes Consumer Solutions Ltd have been fined £170,000 for a contravention of Regulation 21 of the Privacy and Electronic Communications (EC Directive) Regulations 2003.

Mermaids

08 July 2021, Monetary penalties, Charitable and voluntary

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has fined transgender charity Mermaids £25,000 for failing to keep the personal data of its users secure.

Brazier Consulting Services Ltd

01 July 2021, Monetary penalties, General business

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has fined Leeds-based Brazier Consulting Services Ltd (BCS) £200,000 for making more than 11 million unlawful claims management calls.

ColourCoat Limited

23 June 2021, Monetary penalties, Land or property services

T here have been multiple breaches of Regulations 21 and 24 of PECR by ColourCoat Limited arising from its activities over an eight month period and this led to a substantial number of unsolicited direct marketing calls being made.

Global One 2015

15 June 2021, Monetary penalties, Charitable and voluntary

Between 24 April 2020 and 23 May 2020 Global One instigated a total of 573,000 unsolicited direct marketing messages, resulting in total of 548 complaints. They have been fined £10,000.

Papa John’s (GB) Limited

15 June 2021, Monetary penalties, Retail and manufacture

Papa John’s (GB) Limited has been fined £10,000 for sending 168,022 nuisance marketing messages to its customers.

Solarwave Limited

08 June 2021, Monetary penalties, Marketing

Solarwave of Grays, Essex, has been fined £100,000 for making 73,217 unsolicited marketing calls about solar panel maintenance between January and October 2020. These were made to people who were registered with the Telephone Preference Service (TPS) list and who should not have received them.

LTH Holdings Limited

08 June 2021, Monetary penalties, Marketing

LTH Holdings, a telephone marketing company from Cardiff, have been fined £145,000 for making 1.4 million calls selling funeral plans to people who were also registered with the TPS for a year between May 2019 to May 2020. The ICO received 41 complaints. The ICO has online reports that LTH adopted aggressive, coercive, and persuasive methods in its direct marketing, which is concerning given the target audience could be vulnerable people.

Colour Car Sales Limited

08 June 2021, Monetary penalties, Transport and leisure

Colour Car Sales Ltd (CCSL) of Stoke-on-Trent, is a credit intermediary for used car finance. They have been fined £170,000 for sending spam text messages directing people to a number of car finance websites.

The Conservative Party

03 June 2021, Monetary penalties, Political

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has fined the Conservative Party £10,000 for sending 51 marketing emails to people who did not want to receive them.

American Express Services Europe Limited

20 May 2021, Monetary penalties, Finance insurance and credit

Between a 12-month period from 1 June 2018 to 31 May 2019, a confirmed total of 4,098,841 direct marketing messages were sent by, or at the instigation of, of American Express Services Europe Limited. These messages contained direct marketing material for which subscribers had not provided adequate consent.

Tested.me Ltd

18 May 2021, Monetary penalties, Marketing

The ICO has fined a company for sending direct marketing emails to people who provided their personal data for contact tracing purposes.

Leads Work Limited

05 March 2021, Monetary penalties, Marketing

Leads Work Limited sent 2,670,140 marketing text messages to individuals without their consent, resulting in excess of 10,000 complaints, over a period of 41 days.

Muscle Foods Limited

03 March 2021, Monetary penalties, Retail and manufacture

Muscle Foods Limited sent approximately 135,651,627 marketing emails and 6,354,426 marketing SMS messages to individuals without their consent, over a period of seven months.

Valca Vehicle and Life Cover Agency Ltd

25 February 2021, Monetary penalties, Finance insurance and credit

Between 15 June 2020 and 20 July 2020 a total of 95,004 connected unsolicited direct marketing messages were received by subscribers, resulting in 114 complaints.

Just Hype Ltd

18 February 2021, Monetary penalties, Retail and manufacture

Between 1 June 2019 and 12 June 2020, a confirmed total of 1,746,632 direct marketing messages were sent at the instigation of Just Hype Ltd. These messages contained direct marketing material for which subscribers had not provided adequate consent.

Call Centre Ops Limited

12 February 2021, Monetary penalties, Marketing

There have been multiple breaches of regulation 21 by Call Centre Ops Limited arising from the organisation’s activities over a six-month period, and this led to a substantial number (159,461) of unsolicited direct marketing calls being made to subscribers who were registered with the TPS. Furthermore, Call Centre Ops Ltd has been unable to demonstrate that it held valid consent for the purposes of these calls.

House Guard UK Limited

12 February 2021, Monetary penalties, Retail and manufacture

Between 8 May 2018 and 31 December 2018 House Guard UK Limited indicated that it had conducted a direct marketing telephone campaign in respect of which they admit that approximately 669,966 were connected to subscribers. Of these calls 371,958 were made to TPS registered numbers, without conducting any due diligence on the data provided to them.

Seafish Importers Limited

28 January 2021, Monetary penalties, Retail and manufacture

Between 23 August 2019 and 7 April 2020, a confirmed total of 491,995 direct marketing messages were sent by Seafish Importers Limited and received by subscribers. Of those messages, 276,866 were sent between 20 March 2020 and 7 April 2020, during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, relating to the sale of face masks. These messages contained direct marketing material for which subscribers had not provided valid consent.