National Accident Helpline has found that UK residents are still suffering from cold calls, with as many as 1 in 5 people being cold-called every day.
In a recent survey of over 100,000 UK residents, the results also found that the most at-risk age group were those aged 65 or over, who were more likely than any other age group to be cold called at least once a day.
Alongside pensioners, people living in Yorkshire and the Humber are more likely to be cold-called, where 66% of people are cold-called regularly. This was closely followed by North East, Wales and East of England.
National Accident Helpline’s Managing Director, Simon Trott, believes this is evidence that there’s still a need for action on cold-calling.
“Over 40% of those surveyed were cold-called more than once a week. These are people being bothered in the comfort of their own homes, often being pressured into giving away their contact information and in some more extreme cases, bank details.
It’s important to protect the public from scam phone calls that are intended to extort money and gather information”.
The government is now taking forward legislation which prohibits claims management companies from making cold calls to consumers. It is expected that the legislation will take effect during 2019.
As the founder of both the Ethical Marketing Charter and Stop Nuisance Calls campaign, the Government amendment tabled to the Financial Guidance and Claims Bill is a landmark moment in National Accident Helpline’s long-running campaign to stamp out this rogue practice.
