Virgin Media fined £24m after cutting off vulnerable customers

(Sharecast News) - Telecoms operator Virgin Media has been fined £23.8m after it disconnected vulnerable customers during a bungled phone line migration and placed thousands of people "at direct risk of harm". Industry regulator Ofcom said users of the emergency alarm and monitoring service Telecare -were disconnected if they failed to engage with a process, in late 2023, which switched old analogue lines to a digital.

"It's unacceptable that vulnerable customers were put at direct risk of harm and left without appropriate support by Virgin Media, during what should have been a safe and straightforward upgrade to their landline services," said Ian Strawhorne, Ofcom's director of enforcement.

"Today's fine makes clear to companies that, if they fail to protect their vulnerable customers, they can expect to face similar enforcement action."

The watchdog said it had put thousands of vulnerable customers "at a direct risk of harm and prevented their devices from connecting to alarm monitoring centres while the disconnection was in place".

Ofcom said that Virgin Media had disclosed its own failures under consumer protection rules and its full cooperation was taken into account when determining the size of the penalty. However, Virgin affected customers will not be compensated, with the money going direct to the Treasury.

Reporting by Frank Prenesti for Sharecast.com