CRACK DOWN ON NUISANCE CALLS - RENDEL

12.49.13pm UTC (GMT +0000) Tue 1st Mar 2005

David Rendel MP and the Liberal Democrats have launched a campaign to stop illegal nuisance calls in the run-up to the General Election.

Local residents who have said they don't want nuisance calls, and have registered with the Telephone Preference Service (TPS) to stop such calls, are still being telephoned by both the Tories and Labour.

The Liberal Democrats have set up a new website - www.stopnuisancecalls.com - to encourage voters to register formal complaints when they receive nuisance calls from the Tories and Labour. Fines of up to £5,000 per call can be imposed by the Information Commission for abusing the TPS system.

Mr Rendel said:

"Residents register with the Telephone Preference Service because they don't want to receive nuisance calls at home. But the Conservatives and Labour are improperly pestering voters by telephoning them against their will.

"The Liberal Democrats are the only major party to make every effort to try and ensure we do not make calls to TPS registered homes, unless the resident has previously given us their number when contacting us about a local issue.

"It is time that the other two parties respected the rights of voters and consumers."