A ‘despicable’ Croydon-based plumbing company has been fined £90,000 for making nuisance calls and harassing vulnerable people.

In several cases, the calls resulted in elderly people paying for boiler insurance it appeared they did not need.

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) and the Telephone Preference Service (TPS) received 214 complaints about Kwik Fix Plumbers - previously known as Boilershield.

People called by the company were registered with the TPS and had not said they had wanted to receive the calls, so the company should not have phoned them.

But it did anyway and, in doing so, was in breach of the law.

Examples of complaints received by the ICO included one from the family of an 86-year-old woman.

It said: "My mother was extremely distressed by the incident.

"She was confidently leading an independent life until then and largely managing her own affairs but she now feels much less able to do so.

And one from the family of an 85-year-old Alzheimer’s sufferer came after someone from Boilershield phoned pretending to be the company paid to service her boiler.

She paid £199, which she thought was for her annual boiler service, and when her family complained Boilershield refunded £149 but kept £50 for administration charges.

ICO’s head of enforcement, Stephen Eckersley, said: "The actions of this company are truly despicable.

"Contacting anyone registered with the TPS without their consent involves breaking the law, but harassing vulnerable people is disgraceful.

"We had no choice but to take action.

"We will continue to work with trading standards and the police to protect vulnerable people from these types of calls and take enforcement action against those responsible for breaking the law."

The ICO’s investigation found that Kwik Fix Plumbers had no process in place to stop calls being made to people registered with the TPS, and could not show evidence that people had agreed to receive the marketing calls.

The company also failed to give its employees sufficient guidance or training on how to comply with electronic marketing rules, known as the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations.

During the investigation it was discovered that a number of complaints were from, or on behalf of, subscribers who were either elderly or suffering from dementia or Alzheimer’s disease.

ICO’s action of fining the company £90,000 comes nine months after it prosecuted Boilershield for failing to register under the Data Protection Act.

The company and its director, Mohammod Ali, pleaded guilty at a hearing on March 12 at Bromley Magistrates Court.

They were both fined £1,200, ordered to pay costs of £196.87 and a victim surcharge of £120.

Croydon Guardian is awaiting a comment from Kwik Fix Plumbers.