Tribunal reviews sanctions against company and adjusts fine to £750,000 for eight Code breaches
Tribunal had originally fined TCS Combined Solutions Ltd £885,000.
A review Tribunal has adjusted the sanctions imposed on a company called TCS Combined Solutions Ltd, after finding the company had demonstrated some level of insight into the impact its breaches had on consumers and what it needs to do to make sure they don’t happen again.
Earlier this year, a Tribunal fined TCS £885,000, after finding eight Code breaches. These concerned the company’s subscription service called ‘DiscountMeDirect’, which charged consumers for texts containing vouchers and discount codes. TCS hadn’t obtained consumer consent from all subscribers before charging them for these messages.
At the review hearing, the Tribunal decided that the director of the company had demonstrated a degree of insight and that this was a mitigating factor to the case. The Tribunal was of the view that a reduced fine of £750,000 was proportionate in balancing the additional mitigation put forward by the director with its sanctioning objectives.
The Tribunal also amended the sanctions to include an additional requirement for compliance advice to be sought and implemented to the PSA’s satisfaction. But it amended the three-year prohibition sanction to allow the prohibition to come to an end sooner if this requirement was met (as well as the requirement to pay the fine and administrative charge).