Mobile phone firm Vodafone said on Friday it has made changes to procedures for blocking phones after broadcaster RTL managed to have home affairs minister Ronald Plasterk’s phone cut off.

RTL highlighted problems with Vodafone’s procedures by phoning the company’s automatic hotline to have a number blocked. The system worked without any human involvement to verify callers were connected to the number they wanted shut down.

Vodafone says it has now introduced human checks to ensure callers are who they say they are.

‘We have closed the procedure down and you can no longer have a phone blocked without talking to a staff member,’ Vodafone said in a statement.

Vodafone has the contract to supply government mobile phone services.