The Salford-based companies and their two directors provided
written assurances under the Control of Misleading Advertisements
Regulations after the case was referred to the OFT by the
Advertising Standards Authority (ASA).
The advertisements, sent by fax, invited businesses to send
their details to a premium rate fax line if they wished to amend or
in some instances maintain their entry in the
www.192directoryenquiries.net internet directory.
The advertising misled by giving the false impression that the
faxes were sent by or on behalf of a telephone company providing a
directory enquiry service accessed by telephoning 192, such as BT,
and that recipients of the faxes will only be listed (or continue
to be listed) in the 192directoryenquiries.net directory if the fax
is returned.
The OFT recently obtained a final injunction in the High Court
against Planet Telecom Plc of Wigan, director Peter Hutcheon and
former director John Tonge, to stop similar misleading
advertisements for the directoryenquiries.biz internet directory
(formerly 192enquiries.com).
John Vickers, Director General of Fair Trading, said:
”This is the second time in recent months
that the OFT has taken action against misleading directory
enquiries advertising. We will continue to work with the ASA and
Trading Standards to prevent any advertising which misleads
customers.”
