The director of a company that inflicted 100 million automated nuisance telephone calls over an 18-month period has avoided paying a £400,000 fine imposed by the Information Commissioners Office (ICO) by promptly winding his company up.

Greg Rudd, 51, from Cambridge, wound up Keurboom Communications Ltd in March to avoid paying the fine and recorded assets of zero and debts of £43,000.This is the second time he has used the fine-avoiding strategy. In 2005 he was a director of Allied Telecommunications Ltd, another cold-calling firm that telephoned people to persuade them to call expensive premium-rate numbers with the promise of a cash prize. Hit with a £1.3 million fine this firm also went promptly into liquidation.

Until the ICO can target and fine directors personally, rather than their companies, Rudd and others like him are free to just carry on operating under another company name, completely legally.