A support service for people with visual impairment in Dorset, has welcomed a government plan that would prevent cold callers from hiding their number, but says more can still be done.
Geraldine Bradley, the Community Support Manager at Bournemouth Blind Society has welcomed the change but thinks it won’t necessarily help those who would not be able to see the display in the first place. Ms Bradley spoke to The Breaker:
There’s been a mixed reaction to the move from the elderly population. Ex-nurse and Bournemouth resident, Mary Hurst says, “whilst it’s a good idea, it does need a bit of extra thought. I’ve been with the telephone preference service for some years, but I still gets cold calls, even from centres in this country.”
She added, “sometimes you can dial ‘1471’ and a foreign number will come up, but often it’s withheld, so if the government’s idea is to get rid of that loophole, that would certainly help.”
The initiative was confirmed by Baroness Neville Rolfe who says, “nuisance phone calls are incredibly intrusive and can cause significant harm to elderly and vulnerable members of society.”
The move is hoped to crackdown on the number of unwanted phone calls made, and would come into effect from May 16th of this year. Baroness Neville Rolfe said in a speech in February that “In 2015, the ICO received nearly 170,000 complaints about nuisance calls.”
