Huge fines could be levied on North West Hampshire Labour for nuisance calling.

9.48.57am GMT Fri 18th Mar 2005

Up to 22,000 North West Hampshire residents who have registered with the Telephone Preference Service (TPS) may be called against their will by Labour party in the run-up to the elections.

Labour has a call centre in North Shields and they are not currently intending to take any notice of local people's wishes expressed via the Telephone Preference Service.

In response, local Liberal Democrats will be writing to local households to explain how local people can complain if they receive nuisance calls. Fines of up to £5,000 per call can be imposed by the Information Commission for ignoring the TPS system.

Nationally, the Liberal Democrats have also launched a website (www.stopnuisancecalls.com) to help local people complain if they receive illegal nuisance calls from any political party.

Martin Tod, Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Spokesman for North West Hampshire commented: "The Labour party are wrong to call people against their wishes. They claim to listen to local people, but this appears to go straight out of the window at election time. I have written to Labour asking them whether they intend to respect the rights of local voters by not calling people who have asked to receive no unsolicited calls via the TPS system."

John Burbidge-King, Chair of North West Hampshire Liberal Democrats added "Locally, we have made sure that Liberal Democrat volunteers respect the wishes of people who have registered with the TPS system. We pay money every month to make sure that we have up to date information on which numbers should not be called. We would like to see the other parties show a similar level of professionalism and respect for local people."

Households registered with the Telephone Preference Service (TPS) are being telephoned by both Labour telephone canvassers - on the questionable basis that they are conducting "polling" rather than "marketing". But the numbers of voters being contacted go far beyond what is needed for a statistically significant opinion poll.

Web addresses:

www.stopnuisancecalls.com

www.tpsonline.org.uk

TPS Registration line - 0845 070 0707