Simon, Lara

The Tribunal was asked to consider imposing a prohibition against Ms Lara Simon pursuant to paragraph 4.8.3(g) of the 14th edition of the Phone-paid Services Authority (“PSA”) Code of Practice (the “Code”). Lara Simon is also known by her married name of Lara Kellard however on company documents is referred to as Ms Lara Simon and therefore she will be referred to as Ms Lara Simon in this adjudication.

The case related to two previous adjudications against the Level 2 provider, Heart Communications Limited:

Case 1 – This was adjudicated on 10 October 2018 (case reference: 133839) and involved an Information Service on working from home as a virtual assistant; and

Case 2 – This was adjudicated on 7 August 2019 (case reference: 162296) and related to a failure to comply with the financial sanctions and administrative charges imposed by the Tribunal on 10 October 2018.

The Tribunal decided to prohibit Ms Simon from providing or having any involvement in any premium rate service in the UK for a period of five years from the date of publication of this decision.

The Tribunal considered that a prohibition of this duration was justified due to the conduct of the Level 2 provider and the very serious breaches that were upheld by the earlier Tribunals. The Tribunal took into account the deterrent effect of sanctions and the need to ensure that such non-compliant conduct would not be repeated by Ms Simon and would deter others in the industry from knowingly being involved in such conduct. The Tribunal accordingly considered that the prohibition was a proportionate sanction, having considered all the facts of the case and the seriousness of the underlying cases and the need to deter conduct of this nature.

Administrative charge recommendation: 100%