Stockport solicitors welcomes decision to fine firm for sending spam texts to general public

Dec. 4, 2012 - PRLog -- A Stockport solicitor has welcomed the decision by the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) to fine two owners of a marketing company after they inundated the public with millions of spam texts.

The ICO, the UK’s independent authority to uphold information rights in the public interest, fined Tetrus Telecoms £440,000 for breaching the Privacy and Electoric Communication Regulations, after they sent huge numbers of unsolicited texts from their offices in Stockport and Birmingham.

It is the first time the ICO have used their power to issue fines under the new regulations, which were introduced in January, 2012, and followed an 18-month investigation into the work practices of Tetrus Telecoms, which are jointly-owened by Christopher Niebel and Gary McNeish.

The majority of the texts concentrated on generating interest in personal injury and PPI claims, which they used to secure personal information which they were able to sell on to claims management companies. They sent 840,000 illegal text messages a day, which generated income of around £7,000-£8,000 a day.

“This sort of practice gives solicitors, who are regulated and conform to a strict code of standards set down by the Solicitors’ Regulation Authority, a bad name,” said Alex Speed, the principal solicitor at Francis Alexander Solicitors.

“The people that conduct themselves in this manner are the scourge of the industry. Regulated solicitors are prevented from any unsolicited advertising or cold calling to protect the general public and it is to be welcomed that those who do these things have been punished.”

Francis Alexander Solicitors are an expert firm of solicitors based in Heaton Mersey, Stockport specialising in personal injury, work accidents and PPI. To read the article in full, please go to their web-site at www.fasclaim.com.