Premium O Limited

On 16 May 2013, the Tribunal adjudicated against a driving test booking service (the “Service”) operated by the Level 2 provider Waqar Ashraf trading as book-theory-test-online (case reference 17843). The Tribunal upheld five breaches of the Code relating to misleading promotions, the lack of clarity regarding pricing, concerns regarding the provision of written information likely to influence a consumer’s decision to purchase, undue delay and registration of the premium rate numbers.

The Network operator for the Service was Premium O Limited. During the course of the investigation against the Level 2 provider, the Executive had concerns regarding the due diligence and the assessment and control of risk undertaken by the Network operator.

The Executive raised the following potential breaches of the PhonepayPlus Code of Practice (12th Edition) (the “Code”):

• Paragraph 3.3.1 – Due diligence
• Paragraph 3.1.3 – Risk assessment

The Tribunal upheld all breaches of the Code raised. The Network operator’s revenue in relation to the underlying Service was within the range of Band 5 (£5,000-£50,000). The Tribunal considered the case to be serious and issued a formal reprimand, a fine of £40,000 and a requirement that the Network operator remedy the breach by designing and implementing adequate due diligence and risk assessment procedures and produce evidence to the satisfaction of PhonepayPlus, within four weeks from the date of publication of this decision.