It found more than half of unsolicited calls on landlines were from companies selling financial products or services such as payment protection insurance (PPI).

Which? also found that one in four members who made a claim on their car insurance were contacted by a claims management company (CMC) within three months. Nearly half of these were contacted in a week, and many were bombarded by repeated calls and texts – 22% received 10 or more texts and 12% received 10 or more calls.

The consumer group wants the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), the Ministry of Justice, Ofcom and the Office of Fair Trading to set up a joint taskforce to cut off unwanted calls and texts.

It also wants insurers and other companies that hold personal information to be more upfront about how they intend to use this data.

Richard Lloyd, Which? executive director, said: “Unwanted calls or texts are not just a nuisance, they can be intrusive and distressing. Many of us have been bombarded with spurious claims of PPI or injury compensation, and people are telling us they are totally fed up with this nuisance and want to see action.”

Regulator Ofcom announced earlier this year a five point action plan to tackle this issue including new research, tracing those behind nuisance calls and more enforcement action.

An Ofcom spokesperson said: “Ofcom has powers to take enforcement action against companies who breach rules on silent and abandoned calls and we take this issue extremely seriously. Ofcom is already playing an active role in the coordinated effort to tackle the wider issue of nuisance calls alongside other regulatory bodies and Government.”

From April insurers will not be able to sell on details of personal injury claims.