TOUGHER laws are needed to crack down on “nuisance” cold-callers phoning Bolton residents, a councillor has said.

Astley Bridge councillor Paul Wild has called on the local authority to do more to stop unsolicited telephone calls from marketing companies.

He has put forward a motion, which will be debated at Wednesday’s full council meeting, after receiving a barrage of unwanted phone calls despite being listed on the Telephone Preference Service (TPS).

The retired advertising executive said: “I have been signed up with TPS for more than 10 years and we still get unsolicited phone calls — sometimes at 8.30am in the morning and late at night.

“They are listed as coming from abroad, but as we have a son who lives in Australia we don’t want to not answer the phone.

“They are very annoying. The tipping point came when I took a phone call, but when I told them I was registered with TPS they said it didn’t matter because it wasn’t a sales call.

“There should be a punishment fee, which should be enforced, to stop companies from bothering people when they don’t want them to.”

The motion asks the Chief Executive of Bolton Council, Sean Harriss, to write to the government asking for more legislation to stop telephone calls to private addresses, which Cllr Wild says often targets the elderly.

It adds: “Every effort is to be made in enforcing the said legislation, and fines should be set at a high level as a deterrent and enforced where a breach of the law is carried out, so that we can see a dramatic drop in the number of extremely intrusive and uninvited telephone calls.”

Councillors will debate and vote on the motion at the meeting of full council this Wednesday, August 27 at 7pm in the Town Hall. Members of the public are welcome to attend.