Steve Brine has welcomed new government plans to impose fines of up to £500,000 on companies behind nuisance calls and texts, following his long-standing campaign in Parliament.
Currently, firms can only be punished if the Information Commissioner can prove a call caused "substantial damage or substantial distress", but that legal barrier is to be removed on 6th April, meaning heavy fines for offenders.
Plans announced by the Department of Culture, Media and Sport also include looking at introducing mandatory caller line identification, so that marketing callers must display their telephone number, and holding company bosses, at board level, personally liable for nuisance calls and text messages.
Steve Brine has worked hard on the issue in Parliament, as he has spoken to, and been contacted by, a huge number of constituents, particularly the elderly and vulnerable, who have been distressed at the calls, and afraid to pick up the phone, thereby damaging contact with family and friends.
He said: "For far too long companies have bombarded my constituents with unwanted marketing calls and texts, and escaped punishment because they didn't apparently cause enough harm or distress.
"Our all-party group of MPs never felt that was good enough and has worked throughout this Parliament, backed up by a huge weight of evidence from our constituents, to force through a much tougher change in the law.
More information ...
LISTEN to Steve's comments on the news here.
WATCH Steve speak about this on ITV Meridian here
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