Coventry firm Easyleads Limited has been fined £260,000 for making 16.7 million automated marketing calls.

The ICO said it didn’t have specific consent from the people who received the automated calls about boiler grants, which is against the law.

Easyleads also broke the rules by not including a company name or contact details in the recorded message.

The ICO received more than 550 complaints about the calls, with many saying they received multiple calls. Others were waiting for urgent calls and instead were bombarded with messages about boiler replacements. Others were angered by the late night and/or early morning, calls, particularly over the May 2017 bank holiday weekend.

Here are some of the complaints it received:

• I am a pensioner and ex-directory so it was disturbing to get this call.
• The repeated calls waste time and are like harassment.
• I am waiting for a call about my mother’s imminent surgery. Rushing to answer the phone to these jokers makes me even more anxious.  They need to be stopped.

ICO investigators found the firm deliberately misled people by referring to a government scheme and the offer of a free boiler.

Following the ICO’s investigation, Companies House posted plans for Easyleads Ltd to be struck off and dissolved.

‘Stamp out this modern-day torment’

Andy Curry, ICO enforcement group manager, said: “We hear first-hand from people how utterly disruptive, annoying and sometimes distressing automated calls can be. Firms cannot expect to get away with intruding into people’s lives like this.

“We’re here to take action, like we’ve done today, to stamp out this modern-day torment. When people report nuisance calls to the ICO, it helps us do that.”

To report a nuisance call, visit the ICO’s online reporting tool.