It's the call centre accused of plaguing Britain with an incredible six million calls a day. Now The Mail on Sunday can reveal the chequered background of the man responsible – involving disputes with famous names and a string of failed businesses. Russell Church is the main shareholder in a company that is currently under investigation for bombarding its victims, including the elderly and vulnerable, with unsolicited nuisance calls selling debt management and payment protection insurance (PPI) claims services. Earlier this month the cold-call 'factory' based at an anonymous business complex in Hove, East Sussex, was raided by the Information Commissioner's Office, which is responsible for the enforcement of the Data Protection Act.Main shareholder investigated for selling debt management and PPI claims18 of his firms have gone into liquidation and he owes creditors millionsCold-call 'factory' raided by Information Commissioner's Office this monthAnonymous firm is reported to hold a staggering 90 million phone numbersMeanwhile two firms who offering are to 'block cold calls' being monitoredCold Call Elimination allegedly gives impression they are calling from BTBeing banned from running companies because of unpaid taxes and National Insurance payments;Eighteen of his firms going into liquidation, owing creditors millions of pounds;Taking thousands of pounds in subscription fees from teenage Boyzone fans for a magazine that folded after one issue;A legal claim from TV presenter Anne Diamond over an offensive cartoon in a magazine he published.
Recent figures show that 30 million _ receive up to a billion nuisance phone calls and text messages every year.