Silent Call Campaigner, John Hemming MP

5.11.04pm GMT Tue 30th Jan 2007

Silent Call Campaigner, John Hemming MP, has welcomed ofcom's actions in fining four companies a total of £152,500. Penalty notices have been issued to Bracken Bay Kitchens Ltd, Space Kitchens and Bedrooms Ltd, Toucan Residential Ltd (formerly IDT Direct Ltd) and Carphone Warehouse plc, for contravening section 128 of Act by making an excessive amount of silent or abandoned calls.

Silent calls can occur when automated calling systems used by call centres generate more calls than the available call centre agents can manage. When the person called answers the telephone and there is no agent available, the automated calling system abandons the call. This can result in the person called experiencing silence on the line when they answer the telephone.

Ofcom has imposed the following penalties:

Space Kitchens £45,000

Bracken Bay Kitchens £40,000

Carphone Warehouse £35,000

Toucan £32,500

"This issue is one that I have been campaigning on since just after I was elected. It was raised by the parishoners of St Mary's Church in Acocks Green and I have tabled Early Day Motions and raised the issue at Prime Minister Question time. It demonstrates that an effective continuous campaign works. Campaigners such as David Hickson are also part of getting results."

"The job is not totally finished as we need to stop all silent calls by making sure that an informative message is used. We are, however, 90% there and I will be sharing a bottle of champagne with the campaigners to celebrate the fact that Ofcom is now getting serious about the issue."