In reply to a post by Malwaremike:

Apparently it is a criminal offence to cold call where the householder has so requested.

There is a contrary view at the Trading Standards Blog web-site.

To quote:

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So what do councils do?

The work councils do to combat cold calling are purely voluntary:

Education – we discourage people from buying goods or services on the doorstep. This reduces the risk of people getting ripped off. The less people that buy on the door the less profitable it becomes and so hopefully the whole concept dies out.

Door stickers – door stickers that say things like ‘No Cold Callers’ can be provided to householders. The purpose of these is to empower the householder to simply point at the sticker and say ‘no’ to the cold caller. They do not have any legal standing and a cold caller is not breaking any laws by ignoring the sticker.

Of course, because these stickers always have the logo of the council on them they lead to people complaining to the council that they are not effective.

No Cold Calling Zones – these are roads or areas where (most) residents have agreed they do not wish to be cold called. The idea is that every household (or most) will display a sticker and collectively refuse to engage with cold callers and that should act as a deterrent to cold callers.

These zones can be effective but setting them up can be resource intensive and time consuming. Councillors (politicians) tend to like them because they are seen as initiatives that aid in protecting people. I am dubious about whether they are worth the hassle – mainly because we get a lot of complaints from people moaning about cold callers in their No Cold Calling Zone. It is not illegal to cold call in a No Cold Calling Zone – so we end up spending a lot of time having to tell people we cannot do anything about their complaint.

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The author is asked later in the piece to justify the statements in regard to whether cold calling would be defined as an aggressive practice under the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 and doubts whether cold calling is an aggressive practice under the terms of the law.

Cold calling is basically an unwelcome intrusion into your privacy but there is an argument that it is not illegal even in a No Cold Calling zone. You pays your money and you takes your choice.

In reply to a post by YF_Ryan:

Hi @RichTea23,

Thanks for the response, I have sent you an email as requested, quite refreshing to see a response like this.
Sorry I don't have details of the person directly involved they were dressed in YorFibre branded clothing and there were a few people on my street dressed the same at the time. It was only after closing the door I thought to try find out who the person was.

Hi, can you confirm if you are using brokers or sub brokers.
That seems to be the way the energy suppliers run rough shod over TPS and GDPR regulations

In reply to a post by Malwaremike:

I and other members of our (ancient) community group have bought yellow stickers stating NO COLD CALLERS for our front doors. Apparently it is a criminal offence to cold call where the householder has so requested. Works well so far.

Lucky you. Mine has only a limited effect. A couple of months ago a couple of gents who were doing the rounds of my street stopped at my door. One of them pointed to the sign on my letterbox and said something to the other who then rang my bell. I ignored them. Eventually they left after putting something through my letter box.

It turned out to be some religious claptrap from someone claiming to be my neighbour. So it appears that religious zealots either can't read or else feel that their higher purpose entitles them to ignore requests to be left alone.

Edited by Andrue (Mon 04-Mar-24 20:17:36)