PLT charges customers £4 a month to ‘block’ unwelcome cold calls and junk mail. When customers sign up for the service, however, the firm merely registers their details with the Telephone Preference Service (TPS) and Mail Preference Service (MPS) – both free services provided by the government, which prohibit marketers from contacting registrants.

PLT has been under investigation by the Department for Business, Innovation & Skills (BIS) since October 2012, but the Department notes that PLT’s activities have constituted a “live issue” since March 2010, if not before. In April 2013, BIS moved to shut down the business; the next month, PLT pledged that it would inform customers, whether potential or existing, that its services were available through official channels free of charge.

However, two years and six court hearings later, PLT remains alive. The company is yet to uphold its May promise, and is now seeking a diluted compromise – informing customers that they rely on TPS and MPS to block unsolicited marketing correspondence, but not revealing that these two services are free.

Lord Justice Briggs, a court of appeal judge, has now expressed doubts that the firm is engaged in illegitimate activity. While noting that “a business that seeks to charge for that which the customer could obtain free is a form of scam which ought be prevented,” Briggs believes that current regulations do not require businesses to disclose to consumers that services or products may be available more cheaply (or, indeed, free) elsewhere. Nonetheless, Briggs has called for a full trial.