The Information Commissioner’s Office has handed used car retailer Concept Car Credit Limited a £40,000 after sending hundreds of thousands of unsolicited marketing text messages.

The ICO launched an investigation into the texts – sent between April 2015 and March 2016 – after receiving 66 complaints from consumers and discovered that the operation on Stoneclough Road, Radcliffe , had sent around 336,000 unsolicited texts over an 18 month period.

Speaking to the Manchester Evening News about the investigation, Steve Eckersley, the ICO’s head of enforcement, said: “The mass sending of over 300,000 marketing text messages without following the rules is simply not on.

“We have published clear guidance on how to comply with the law and have a helpline which gives businesses further advice. There’s no excuse for getting it wrong and intruding into people’s everyday lives with spam texts.”

The MEN reported that representatives of Concept Car Credit Limited had told the ICO that the business had obtained the data used to send the messages from other organisations.

The business broke the law by failing to ensure that it was only texting people who had consented to receive the marketing, however.

Concept Car Credit Limited’s fine will be reduced to £32,000 if it pays the fine in full by June 13, the MEN reported.