Some 9,500 people made formal complaints to telecoms watchdog Opta last year after they were phoned by telephone sales staff, despite being on the ‘don’t phone me’ register.

Telecom firms, energy companies and lottery operators were the worst offenders, Opta said. Two firms have been fined for breaking the rules, but Opta did not say which companies they were.
The ‘don’t phone me’ register contains 5.6 million phone numbers.