For many people, particularly those who live alone, a silent phone call can cause distress. The phone rings, you answer, and no one is there.
The communications regulator Ofcom, consumer champions Consumer Focus and Age Concern, have joined forces to raise awareness of silent calls and how to avoid them.
Although silent calls can seem intimidating, they are usually just marketing calls and not malicious. However, they can be a cause of great anxiety. Knowing how to avoid them is one way consumers can take control.
Silent calls are caused by automated calling systems known as diallers which are often used in call centres to generate and attempt to connect calls. If there are not enough call centre agents to handle the numbers of calls the dialler makes, it may result in a silent call.
Ofcom guidelines state that call centres using diallers should play an information message if a call is abandoned to prevent the call being silent. In many cases this is not happening, and results in consumers receiving silent calls.
Ofcom receives over 1,000 complaints a month from consumers worried and frustrated about this issue.
Consumers can take steps to avoid these calls by registering for the Telephone Preference Service (TPS), which makes it illegal for companies to call them for marketing reasons.
A guide with details of how to register for the TPS and complain about silent calls is available on the web sites of Ofcom, Age Concern and Consumer Focus, or phone the TPS Registration line on 0845 070 0707.
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The recent launch of the Post Bank coalition holds out the prospect that it could save the UK's Post Office network and bring back public confidence in the banking system.
Banking through the Post Office would bring back the community bank, providing reliable and responsible services for local people without the risks of profit-oriented banks. Such schemes work successfully in France, Italy, Germany and other countries.
Although we were able to save two of the three working post offices threatened with closure in Torbay, the South West was hit very hard in the last round of Post Office closures.
By bringing more financial services to the network we can ensure the safety of existing branches. All we need now is support from local councils, regional bodies and central Government to make the scheme a reality.
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We might not have the sunniest climate in the world but ours is still good enough to make use of solar power and I have joined 90 other MPs to support a new campaign to advance its use.
The campaign is targeted at government to ensure that solar owners are rewarded for the electricity that they generate. This is known as a 'Feed-In Tariff' (FIT), and when it is introduced by the Government in 2010 it could mean being paid approximately three to four times more for the solar electricity you generate from solar photovoltaics (PV) than you pay for the electricity from your supplier.
So, you would be paid both to protect the environment from CO2 emissions and yourself from rising electricity bills. A FIT is encouraging thousands of people to install solar PV on the roofs of homes and businesses across the rest of Europe. The same could happen here from April 2010.
Solar PV has proven to be a very effective way of generating clean electricity in the UK as it relies on daylight not heat, requires little or no maintenance and will generate power for forty years plus.
Many new homes are now being built across the country with solar electric roof tiles; a new and innovative way of replacing traditional roof tiles with solar power that can be installed by local roofers with minimal training and are virtually unnoticeable on buildings.
Many thousands of new green jobs will be created in the solar power and roofing sectors in Devon and throughout the south-west if the feed-in tariff is set at an effective rate to encourage greater take-up of the technology.
For more information, or if you would like to show your support as an individual or business, please see www.wesupportsolar.net
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Hardly a day goes by without someone contacting my office about their concerns about the fall in their income.
Thousands of my constituents and tens of thousands of people across South Devon rely on their savings to supplement their incomes.
As interest rates plummet further, the Government still refuses to lend a helping hand to those who are being hit hard by the reduction in income this brings.
Over 8 million pensioners gain an income from savings, bringing in around £3-billion a year in tax revenues for the Treasury.
With rising utility and water bills, and with lower savings income, many people will no longer be able to support their standard of living.
The Government seems to be sticking its head in the sand. When I have raised this issue the Minister can only point out help for pensioners that is being totally dwarfed by the impact of the recession.
Nothing new is being done to help pensioners in the face of the downturn and with one of the worst basic pension levels in Europe, British pensioners will soon be suffering further.
Many of my constituents are dismayed seeing the banking executives receive massive pensions and bonuses while billions are wasted on an ineffectual VAT cut. The least the Government can do in the Budget on the 22nd of this month is to provide a real increase in the state pension as well as reducing the tax burden on savings.
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