C&W guilty in British Gas 75p-per-minute case

Cable & Wireless has admitted it was at fault after British Gas was fined £5,000 by regulator Icstis for its premium rate phone line.

British Gas received the penalty earlier this week, after the watchdog investigated a complaint by a member of the public who had said callers to the utility company's 75p per minute Click Energy line were kept on hold too long.

Icstis said in its adjudication: "Although it appeared unlikely that there was any wilful attempt to mislead or cause consumer harm, it remained the fact that the live service did not have permission and that it was keeping callers on hold for an unreasonable amount of time."

In some cases, callers were kept on hold for seven minutes before they could speak to an operator, an investigation by Icstis found, although the regulator noted that the revenue from the service was "very low".

A spokeswoman for British Gas told silicon.com: "It really was a genuine mistake. We work very closely with our operator partner and they failed to tell us we need to register for permission to set [a premium rate phone line] up." After being contacted by Icstis, British Gas switched Click Energy to a non premium rate number.

Cable & Wireless said it had been at fault. "We take our obligations to Icstis and our customers very seriously," the telco said in a statement. "Clearly in this case our procedures were not satisfactory. In light of Icstis' adjudication and the recent introduction of the 11th Icstis Code of Practice, we have reviewed our premium rate number processes to ensure that our customers are fully informed of their obligations."

British Gas will now have to seek permission from Icstis for the phone line should it wish to reinstate the premium rate service.