Two of Stockport’s MPs – Andrew Stunell and Mark Hunter – have delivered a petition with nearly 1,500 signatures calling on the Government to give people the power to say no to nuisance sale phone calls.
Residents from across Hazel Grove and Cheadle have been signing the petition over the last couple of months to protest at their home lives being constantly disrupted by unsolicited sales pitches, predominately by telephone.
After delivering the petition to Number 10, Andrew said:
‘This petition sends a strong message to the Prime
Minister and the Secretary of State for Media, Culture
and Sport that enough is enough.
‘I hope that the Government will recognise the strength
of feeling on this issue and will get behind further
Liberal Democrat action to end nuisance calls.’
Commenting Mark said:
‘It is unacceptable that these marketing businesses
are continually disturbing Cheadle constituents and it is
unacceptable that they often target the elderly who are
too polite to tell them they aren’t interested in what they
are selling.’
‘I remain concerned that a number of major national companies are breaking the rules on making unsolicited marketing calls but are hiding behind these smaller less reputable businesses. I am calling on these companies to face up to their social responsibilities.’
This coming Friday a Private Member’s Bill on this issue will be presented before Parliament for its Second Reading. The proposals would require businesses that are engaged in direct marketing to demonstrate that consent has been obtained from those that they contact, and reduce the amount of evidence required by the Information Commissioner’s Office before they may enforce penalties against those companies that break the rules.