Nuisance calls: Ofcom says UK households get too many

Householders find calls about PPI claims the most annoying

UK households are receiving too many nuisance calls, according to the telecoms regulator, Ofcom.

22% of such calls come from companies offering services to do with Payment Protection Insurance (PPI).

In the first study of its kind, 843 people were asked by Ofcom to keep a diary of unwanted calls over a four week period.

Of these, 82% reported receiving a nuisance call in that time, and on average they experienced two a week.

Calls from PPI claims companies were found to be the most annoying.

"Two nuisance calls a week is too many and this detailed research will help us understand the root cause of the problem," said Claudio Pollack, Ofcom's consumer group director.

Campaign

Ofcom said said it would now investigate PPI claims companies specifically in relation to silent and abandoned calls.

"We will use the full range of our powers to tackle abandoned and silent calls, but this is a complex area that requires joint action from a number of different agencies and government," said Mr Pollack.

Last month, telecoms firm TalkTalk was fined £750,000 for making an excessive number of silent or abandoned calls to potential customers.

In March this year, consumer association Which? launched a campaign against nuisance calls and texts.

It said 70% of consumers had received an unwanted call in the past three months, and 40% an unsolicited text.

The campaign called on the Information Commissioner's Office, the Ministry of Justice, Ofcom and the Office of Fair Trading to set up a joint taskforce to block unwanted calls and texts.