A company suspected of making over 200 million illegal nuisance calls has been accused of putting lives at risk by clogging up a railway safety line in the Highlands.
Automated calls promoting boiler and window replacement schemes have been calling Network Rail’s Banavie control centre, near Fort William, which is used by people to check if it is safe to use unmanned rail crossings.
Ken Macdonald, head of the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) in Scotland, said: “These calls have caused millions of people disruption, annoyance and distress.
“But not only this, those made to a control centre charged with public safety may have endangered lives.
“Companies behind nuisance calls should know that people are sick of them, and when people complain to us, we will act.”
Fort William councillor Andrew Baxter hit out at the practice of illicit automated calls, adding: “It is really concerning that this company is potentially creating a safety issue by their irresponsible behaviour by allowing automated calls to contact a safety line.
“The ICO must take robust action to stop this happening in the future.”
His colleague Councillor Niall McLean called for the UK Government to intervene.
He said: “When these nuisance calls start to affect things that are safety critical it is very worrying.
“It is a wide problem that is affecting all forms of communication.
“This is something that needs to be tackled at Westminster level to prevent this abuse of communication lines.
“Any company found to be abusing it should be stopped somehow.”
The ICO has searched the premises of the unnamed business in Clydebank, West Dunbartonshire, following complaints about automated nuisance calls.
The calls, which contain recorded messages, often aligned themselves to non-existent Scottish and UK Government initiatives.
Computer equipment and documents were seized from the business as part of the ICO investigation.
The watchdog said the 200 million-plus calls the firm is suspected of making is one of the highest it has ever investigated.
The body has the power to issue fines of up to £500,000 for law breaches around automated marketing calls.
