Text nuisances let off the hook

A man who made a fortune bombarding people with millions of nuisance text messages has had a mammoth Government fine scrapped.

Computer whizzkid Gary McNeish, 27, was hit with an eye-watering £140,000 fine by the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) in November 2012.

Along with business partner Chris Niebel, the pair raked in £8,000 a day by sending out 840,000 spam texts from their Manchester-based firm Tetrus Telecoms.

But their business plan sending texts to random numbers asking for people to put in injury compensation and PPI claims was illegal.

In the first decision of its kind, the ICO hit the pair with a mammoth £440,000 fine, £140,000 for McNeish and £300,000 for Niebel. At the time the ICO said it marked a breakthrough in their war with spam texters.

Announcing their decision, the ICO’s Christopher Graham said: “The public have told us that they are distressed and annoyed by the constant bombardment of illegal texts.

“The two individuals we have served penalties made a substantial profit from the sale of personal information. They knew they were breaking the law and the trail of evidence uncovered by my office highlights the scale of their operations.”

But last night those claims looked hollow after another bitter blow for the regulator, which has been accused of being “toothless”.

While Niebel stayed in the UK and fought the fine, McNeish stuck two fingers up at British authorities by ignoring the demands to live a playboy lifestyle in Thailand instead. The website designer originally from Dunoon, Argyll was frequently seen in the clubs and bars of affluent Chon Buri.

Three months ago, Niebel successfully appealed his fine after his legal team argued that, while sending texts was a nuisance, it didn’t lead to widespread distress for the recipients so should not mean such a hefty fine.

The Sunday Post has now learned McNeish who didn’t appeal his fine has also had his case dropped by default.

A spokesman for the ICO said: “Sadly, we’re dropping action against Gary McNeish after the appeal tribunal decision in our action against Christopher Niebel.”

Last night McNeish said he was “delighted” at the decision. The father-of-one, who has now returned to the UK, said: “At least it’s over with now.”

But campaigners have labelled the decision “very sad news for members of the public”.

David Hickson, of the Fair Telecoms Campaign, said: “This is an example of how there is no effective remedy against the wretched nuisance of spam texts.

“Scrapping this fine sends out totally the wrong message that it is fine to break the law.”

The Sunday Post campaigned for nearly two years for the UK Government to tighten laws against nuisance calls and text firms. In February 2013 we presented a petition of 20,000 signatures to Downing Street.