Halfords has been fined £30,000 after an investigation found it had sent nearly 500,000 unwanted marketing emails. The bike retailer had received complaints over emails about a government voucher scheme that gave people £50 off the cost of repairing a bike at any participating store or mechanic in England.
Halfords jumped on the scheme to promote free bike assessments in its stores therefore clearly advertising its own services, the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) found in its investigation. Hundreds of thousands of unsolicited marketing emails were a breach of electronic marketing rules, the ICO concluded.
Andy Curry, head of investigations at the ICO, said: “It is against the law to send marketing emails or texts to people without their permission. Not only this, it is a violation of their privacy rights as well as being frustrating and downright annoying.
