A USED car dealer has been fined £40,000 for sending out more than 300,000 spam texts.

Concept Car Credit Limited, which is based in Radcliffe, has been issued with the penalty following an investigation by the Information Commissioner’s Office.

The investigation found the company, which offers both car finance and cars for sale, had broken the law about how firms can use people’s details to send marketing texts.

It sent out around 336,000 spam texts in total.

The company, which is based on the Europa Trading Estate near Kearsley, told the ICO it had obtained the data used to send the messages from other organisations but as the instigator of the texts it was Concept Car Credit’s responsibility to ensured it was only texting people who had consented to receive the marketing and failed to do this.

Alongside the fine, the ICO has issued an enforcement notice ordering the company to stop sending unlawful texts in the future.

If the company fails to comply with this notice it could face court action.

Steve Eckersley, ICO head of enforcement, said: “The mass sending of over 300,000 marketing text messages without following the rules is simply not on.

“We have published clear guidance on how to comply with the law and have a helpline which gives businesses further advice. There’s no excuse for getting it wrong and intruding into people’s everyday lives with spam texts.”

Concept Car Credit did not wish to comment when contacted by the Bolton News.

You can report nuisance calls, texts and emails at ico.org.uk and spam texts can also be reported by forwarding them to 7726.

Detailed guidance for firms carrying out direct marketing by phone text, email post or fax is available at www.ico.org.uk