6:35 am, January 12, 2024
HelloFresh fined £140,000 over millions of spam texts and emails
Food delivery firm HelloFresh has been fined £140,000 for a seven-month spamming campaign of 79m emails and a million texts.
Customers were also not given enough information that their data would be used for marketing for up to 24 months after cancelling their subscriptions, the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) said.
The ICO began its investigation in March 2022 following 14 complaints made directly to the regulator as well as 8,729 to the 7726 spam message reporting service. A HelloFresh spokesman said it had made changes to its text and email policy.
RAF launches targeted strikes against Houthi rebel sites in Yemen
The RAF has launched targeted strikes against military facilities used by Houthi rebels in Yemen, with Rishi Sunak saying the UK will ‘always stand up for freedom of navigation and the free flow of trade’.
It marks the first time strikes have been launched against the group since it started targeting international shipping in the Red Sea late last year.
US president Joe Biden said US military forces, backed by the UK and supported by Australia, Bahrain, Canada and the Netherlands, successfully conducted strikes against a number of targets in Yemen.
John Lewis hires ex-director Peter Ruis to lead department store firm
John Lewis Partnership has brought former director Peter Ruis back into the fold to lead the group’s department store business.
The ex-Jigsaw boss will become executive director from the start of next week.
He returns after some 11 years, having worked there for eight years in a number of roles, and will take over from Naomi Simcock, who led the division on an interim basis for almost a year after the departure of Pippa Wicks. Simcock will take up a new role there as operations director.
Post Office threatened and lied to BBC before Panorama interview, broadcaster says
The Post Office threatened and lied to the BBC in 2015 before a Panorama programme with a Horizon whistleblower, the public broadcaster said.
The BBC said experts who were interviewed for the programme were sent intimidating letters by Post Office lawyers who also sent letters to the broadcaster, threatening to sue Panorama.
According to the BBC, senior Post Office managers also told the broadcaster at the time that no staff or Fujitsu, which developed the Horizon software at the centre of the scandal, could access subpostmasters’ accounts, despite being warned four years earlier this was possible. The Post Office has been contacted for comment.
Microsoft lets cloud users keep personal data in Europe to ease privacy fears
Microsoft is upgrading its cloud computing service to let customers store all personal data within the European Union instead of having it flow to the US where national privacy laws do not exist.
The changes apply to services including Azure, Microsoft 365, Power Platform and Dynamics 365, the Seattle-based technology company said.
Cloud computing companies have been moving to localise data storage and processing amid tightening requirements in the 27-nation European Union, which has strict data privacy laws.
Members of closing Odey Asset Management fund to share almost £64m
The partners of the Odey Asset Management hedge fund, which is winding up after founder Crispin Odey was accused of sexual misconduct, are to share nearly £64m for its final year of operations.
Odey AM said the amount of profit that will be distributed between its 11 members had grown from £18.8m in the year to the end of April 2022 to £63.9m the following year. This will be split between the members, although not evenly. One member will be entitled to £28.6m.
In 2021, Odey was found not guilty in a court case that accused him of indecent assault that allegedly happened in 1998. But in June, the Financial Times and Tortoise Media said they had spoken to 13 women who claimed they were abused or harassed by him between 1998 and 2021, which he denies.
Watchdog ruling on Hancock eating kangaroo penis ‘not good use of public money’
Forcing an anti-corruption watchdog to rule on an ex-minister ‘consuming the more intimate parts of some luckless marsupial’ on television is not a good use of public money, its chief has said.
Lord Pickles, chairman of the advisory committee on business appointments, made reference to the appearance of Matt Hancock on ITV’s I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here! where the former health secretary dined on kangaroo penis, as he [Lord Pickles] argued reform of the current vetting regime would ‘bring a sense to the system’.
Repeating his warning that the existing rules on post-government jobs were ‘not fit for purpose’, Lord Pickles said planned changes would allow the committee to focus on more complicated cases that safeguarded the interests and integrity of government.
Volkswagen opens orders for new Tiguan SUV
Prices for Volkswagen’s new third-generation Tiguan will start from £34,060 with orders for the new SUV now open, said the manufacturer.
The latest generation of Tiguan brings some big advancements versus its predecessor, including a stylish new design incorporating advanced LED lighting, with light strips at the front and rear.
Inside sees the bulk of the changes, with a range of new technologies, including touchscreens measuring up to 15 inches and a clever OLED rotary control that can be used to adjust features such as driver settings and volume. First deliveries are expected by the middle of the year.
Yesterday’s headlines on Car Dealer you might have missed
- Exclusive: Whistleblowers claim Jaguar Land Rover dealership ramps at ‘serious risk of collapse’
- Used car dealer Cinch lost £181m in 2023 results reveal
- FCA to investigate car finance for not paying out compensation to customers
- Land Rover tops list of used car brands that made dealers the most profit in 2023
- Supercar dealer pledges to pay £100k premium for Ferrari Purosangue
- Successful Toyota dealership to pass into hands of employees as owners step down
- Redgate Lodge recruits Paul Keighley for new role of operations director
Market movements
The FTSE 100 closed 75.17 points down yesterday to end the day on 7,576.59. The Cac 40 was down 38.46 points at 7,387.62, the Dax was down 142.78 points at 16,547.03, but the Dow Jones was up 15.29 points at 37,711.02.
Weather outlook
Today will see extensive cloud in England and Wales but bright spells in Northern Ireland and Scotland, says BBC Weather. It’ll then turn overcast and breezy with the occasional shower in north-western Scotland in the afternoon.
Saturday will see variable cloud, but it’ll be brighter in southern Scotland and north-east England. Most areas will be dry, but there’ll be a few showers in northern Scotland and, in the morning, Northern Ireland and north-west England.
