A WROUGHTON man has hit out at companies which use cold calling tactics to try to sell their services.

Jim McGann's mother Elizabeth thought she was getting nuisance calls at her home which left her feeling worried and afraid.

Every time the pensioner, who has diabetes and osteoarthritis, struggled to the phone it rang off before she could reach it. At other times the line went dead when she picked the phone up.

Her son called BT's Nuisance Call Bureau and was told the calls could be from telesales firms who target people from the phone book.

Mr McGann, who lives in Ellingdon Road, was told he would have to register with a special service for the price of a local phone call if he wanted his mother's number taken off companies' lists.

"I am totally disgusted. People shouldn't have to go to the trouble of ringing a number to stop calls which they don't ask for," he said. "These calls are a nuisance, especially for the elderly or people with disabilities who cannot reach the phone easily."

Heather Brown, who works for the Nuisance Call Bureau, said operators receive a lot of calls about companies' phone selling practices.

"Making calls like this is a practice used by some companies and it could be that Mr McGann's mother was called by a telesales firm," she said.

"They ring more than one person at a time so if you answer the phone in good faith and there's a silence it is possible the agent has already picked up another call. That is the era we are in and it is totally legal."

Anyone who has problems with nuisance calls can ring the Nuisance Call Bureau on 0845 0700 707. To get your number taken off companies' calling lists, ring 0845 0700 707.