SCOTLAND'S nuisance call plague shows no sign of abating despite campaigns to stop it, new research from consumer watchdog Which? has revealed.
As the watchdog hosts its latest event in the Scottish Parliament today (Wednesday) to discuss the Government’s Action Plan to tackle nuisance calls with MSPs, they say now is the time to act on dealing with the issue.
A study conducted last year shows that Scots are more likely to be pestered by nuisance and unsolicited calls than the rest of the UK.
In the latest research conducted online between 1st and 8th September 2017 as many as eight in 10 (81 per cent) received a nuisance call on their landline in the last month, the same as last year and slightly down slightly from nine in 10 (91 per cent) who received such a call two years ago.
Four in ten (41 per cent) also said that they have felt intimidated by cold calls.
The most common calls to landlines reported relate to: silent calls (48 per cent), PPI insurance claims (42 per cent) and accident claims (44 per cent). In 2015, the three most common types of calls were PPI (66 per cent), silent calls (55 per cent) and the Green Deal or energy efficiency measures, including boilers and double glazing (52 per cent).
The watchdog said: "With the average number of nuisance calls being reported at 14 per month, it’s not surprising that seven in ten Scots told Which? that receiving cold calls had actually discouraged them from picking up their home phone when it rings."
This is despite Scots being more likely than those in the rest of the UK to try to block unwanted callers, with 60 per cent of people who received a nuisance call asking to be removed from the database as of last year.
Scots were also more aware of the Telephone Preference Service, with more than half of those with a landline confirming they have registered.
Which? has long campaigned on the need to tackle the nuisance calls problem in Scotland and has worked closely with the Scottish Government and said it supported the recently announced Nuisance Calls Action Plan that aims to tackle this everyday menace.
Research conducted last year placed Glasgow top of a table ranking 18 UK cities according to the percentage of nuisance calls that trueCall users in those locations received. Edinburgh was second and Aberdeen fourth.
The research found that in Glasgow, over half (51.5 per cent) of all calls received from people using blocking provider trueCall were classified as a nuisance, positioning the city above Edinburgh, where the figure was 47.8 per cent and Aberdeen, where the total was 45.6 per cent.
The consumer watchdog wants MSPs, Scottish businesses and regulators to now get behind the Scottish Government's Action Plan and "ensure that it tackles the problem of nuisance calls in Scotland".
Which? also wants Scottish businesses to ensure that they are delivering on their responsibilities when it comes to making marketing calls and texts. It is also pressing the UK Government to swiftly deliver on its commitment to make senior executives more responsible for the actions of their company.
Alex Neill, Which? home products and services managing director said: “Nuisance calls continue to be an everyday menace for too many people in Scotland. We’ve been campaigning for more to be done to tackle this issue and welcome the Scottish Government’s action plan.
"We now need to see MSPs, businesses and regulators get behind it, so that people start to see a real difference and are no longer bombarded by these unwelcome calls.”
The Scottish Government recently announced a £50,000 fund to install call-blocking technology for those most at risk from nuisance calls.
Economy secretary Keith Brown said the fund is one element of a national Nuisance Calls Action Plan, launched to raise awareness and empower people to protect themselves from scam callers.
Brown has also written to the UK government urging greater action to reduce the volume of nuisance calls.
He said: “Nuisance calls disproportionately affect people in Scotland. They often target the elderly and the vulnerable and have the potential to be very harmful."
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