The watchdog said the fine was imposed on the firm for making unsolicited telemarketing calls to people who registered not to receive this type of sales call.

The firm had no evidence the people it rang had consented to receive the call.

Crosfill & Archer was also unable to confirm what consent it had obtained on customer data purchased from third party data providers.

The fine is one of the first for unsolicited calls imposed by the FCA which took over regulatory responsibility for Claims Management Companies (CMCs) in April 2019.

The fine was originally imposed by the Ministry of Justice in 2018 but the firm then appealed. The appeal was struck out by the Upper Tribunal after the firm failed to file relevant documents in time.

Mark Steward, executive director of enforcement and market oversight at the FCA, said: “Cold calling customers who elected not to receive sales calls is an example of the type of cavalier behaviour claims management firms should not be engaging in. 

“Firms need to ensure they have the right governance and due diligence in place, and we will take action when we see behaviour that threatens legitimate consumer rights and interests.”

In January the FCA published plans to introduce a price cap on the fees CMCs charge and in May it published proposals to ban CMC ‘phoenixing’ where claims firms are connected to FSCS claims.