A claims management company that made millions of nuisance calls has become the first to be fined under new claims management regulation powers.
The Hearing Clinic has received a fine of £220,000 from the claims management regulator, which is based at the Ministry of Justice, following hundreds of complaints from members of the public who received speculative calls about claims for noise induced hearing loss. Many of those people had subscribed to the telephone preference service, which indicates they did not want to receive such calls.
Powers to fine companies who misbehave were introduced in December 2014. Companies can be fined up to 20% of annual turnover as well as have their trading licence suspended or revoked.
Some 296 claims firms received warnings from the regulator in 2014/15 and 105 had their licences removed. The number of claims companies is believed to have fallen to 1,752, from a peak of 3,367 in 2011.
Claims management regulator Kevin Rousell says: “Companies should be in no doubt that if they break the rules then we won’t hesitate to fine them in addition to the tough action we already take.”
The Civil Justice Council has been asked to make recommendations in response to concerns about the number of noise induced hearing loss claims being brought.
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