TWO Bradford companies have been fined a total of £150,000 for making hundreds of nuisance calls, and could be taken to court if they continue.

The Information Commissioner’s Office received 440 complaints about Laura Anderson Ltd, trading as Virgo Home Improvements, in 19 months, and 264 complaints about HPAS Ltd, trading as Safestyle UK, in 20 months.

Virgo, based on Caledonia Street off Wakefield Road has been fined £80,000 and Safestyle UK, based at Style House, on Eldon Place, Manningham, fined £70,000.

The companies both made direct marketing calls to people registered with the Telephone Preference Service, and the ICO office has today warned companies that calls to such people are “off limits.”

The ICO report said Safestyle UK had been “repeatedly warned” against making such calls and was placed on formal monitoring three times, but the complaints continued.

It said in the case of both companies, the number of nuisance calls made were likely to be higher than the numbers included in the report, as it was likely that only a portion of victims had officially complained.

As well as the fines, the ICO has issued enforcement notices to both companies, compelling them to stop making nuisance calls or face court action.

The ICO found that neither company had subscribed to the TPS register in order to check whether the people they were contacting had opted out of receiving direct marketing. Both companies also contacted people after being explicitly told not to call again, which is against the law.

One of the people complaining about Safestyle said: "Just cannot get through to them to remove my number from their database but they obviously haven’t.

"This harassment has been going on for over five years now. I want it to stop.”

One of the complaints about Virgo said: "I was upset because the man was very disrespectful and impatient. I am retired and live on my own and it made me feel vulnerable.”

Steve Eckersley, ICO Head of Enforcement, said: “Companies have no excuse – if people are registered with the Telephone Preference Service they are off limits.

“The law is clear and if companies fall foul of it with illegal and overly aggressive telesales tactics, we will take action on behalf of the people who suffer the nuisance.”

A Safestyle spokesman said: “Whilst this penalty notice relates to a small proportion of historic calls amongst the many that are made during the ordinary course of business, we only ever conduct direct response marketing to existing customers and those who have requested a quotation.

“As a business, we subscribe to a central call blocking system and take steps to prevent calls being made to anybody not asking to be contacted again. Nevertheless, we are reviewing the way the Company conducts its marketing and have already taken steps to improve practice and procedures in this area.

“The Company takes its responsibilities in relation to direct marketing very seriously and would like to apologise to those individuals who have been affected.”

The Telegraph & Argus contacted Virgo for a comment, but had not received a response as of going to press.