Accident Claims Companies are Scum

Every so often I will get a phone call on my Mobile, usually with a London or Birmingham number,  from some woman telling me that I have been in an accident that wasn't my fault.

Depending on what mood I am in I will take one of the following courses of action:

1. Use the foulest language I can think of to try to upset her.
2. Ask her if she is too stupid to get a real job.
3. Play along for a bit - "Ooh have I? - tell me more about it - it must have been awful for me."
4. Tell her that it is her and not her employer who will be prosecuted for phoning a TPS-registered number.

All make me feel a bit better after the nuisance call.

With number 3, they have a script that references "The RTA Register" and they tell me "that stands for the Road Traffic Accident Register.  Well I know what RTA stands for and I also know that this register does not exist and if it did and they had got my details off it, then they might just know my name.

Number 4 isn't actually true but they always hang up immediately.  TPS by the way is this lot - if you are not yet registered with them, I strongly advise to do so - unless you aren't in the UK although I'm sure similar services must exist in other countries.

I always report these calls to the ICO (Information Commissioner's Office) too.

This also makes me feel better.

So what news story has got me talking about this today? I've not had one of these calls for a couple of months now.

Well it is this one from The Huddersfield Daily Examiner.

It reinforces my belief that accident claims companies (like the PPI bastards) are rotten from the top down.  It seems that the boss of one of these companies, Miles Savory, invented an accident so that he could get personal details via the DVLA of the owner of a private number plate that he wanted to buy.

I tried to find a picture of him using Google Images but it kept coming up with sausage rolls and quiches.

Anyway, the owner of the plate complained to the DVLA who investigated and reported him to the ICO.

Savory admitted a charge of breaching Section 55 of the Data Protection Act 1998 by unlawfully obtaining personal data when he appeared at Bristol Magistrates’ Court. The defendant, of Whiteshill, Hambrook, Bristol, was fined £335 and was ordered to pay £364.08 costs and a victim surcharge of £33.

Good.