Telecoms chiefs targeted in spoof 'tart cards' campaign

Powerful figures in the UK's telecoms industry will be named and shamed in spoof “tart cards” as part of a campaign against vice advertising, it emerged today.

Westminster Council is sending out 20,000 cards with the names and business numbers of chief executives or managing directors in telecom companies Telewest, Vodafone, Orange, MM02, Hutchinson 3G, NTL and T-Mobile.

The campaign’s central complaint is the failure of these companies to bar prostitutes’ phone numbers.

Kit Malthouse, deputy leader of Westminster City Council, said: “Mobile phone company chief executives must take personal responsibility for the fact prostitute cards contain numbers that their companies provide.

“Corporate responsibility means action, not just token gestures. Prostitute cards have a clear link to crime yet the companies keep coming up with reasons not to bar the calls.”

He added: “We are appealing to the companies to help us to fight illegal activity voluntarily before we seek legislation from Parliament to force them to act.”

But BT has won praise for its response to the problem.

In 2001, it introduced a Targeted Recording and Processing (TRAP) call barring system.

Initially, according to Westminster Council, BT numbers featured on 98% of the cards but now it is only 5%.

The cards, which have different designs, will be sent to businesses, residents and pressure groups.

Chief executives Barry Elson (Telewest), Arun Sarin (Vodafone), Sanjiv Ahuja (Orange), Dave McGlade (MM02), Bob Fuller (Hutchinson 3G), Simon Duffy (NTL) and managing director Brian McBride (T-Mobile) will all feature on the cards.

A Telewest statement said: “We have provisions within our customer terms and conditions to allow us to terminate or suspend services where we believe customers have been involved in illegal activity.

“We also have an agreed process to deal with any investigation by the police and if any suspected illegal activity is brought to our attention, we will investigate.”

A T-Mobile spokesperson said: “T-Mobile has a long standing policy, which we continue to apply, of barring phone numbers which are proven to be used for criminal activities.

“Equally, we take care not to breach the contracts with our customers and bar phone numbers without good reasons, ie in cases which are not substantiated or legitimate.”

An NTL statement said: “We recognise that Westminster City Council is faced with serious difficulties with respect to these cards, and we’ve been working with the council to address the issues raised.

“We take our legal responsibilities very seriously, but in this instance the offence occurs when the telephone number is advertised, not when it is issued by a telecoms operator to an individual.”

Vodafone said it did not believe that barring calls to numbers advertised on cards left in call boxes was an appropriate way of dealing with suspected prostitution.

It said: “As a provider of telecommunication services, Vodafone does not normally get involved in the judgement of the content or nature of calls, or with interpreting the legality of issues that are the territory of the law enforcement authorities.”