Telephone Preference Service
Under legislation introduced by the Government on May 1st 1999, it is unlawful to make unsolicited direct marketing calls to individuals who have indicated that they do not wish to receive such calls. The Government has decreed that phone calls from political parties and charities are included in this. So, 28 days after someone has registered with the Telephone Preference Service (TPS) they should stop getting calls. The fine for telephoning someone on this list is £5000. Further information can be found on www.tpsonline.org.uk
EARS improves TPS filtering
When making telephone calls on behalf of the Liberal Democrats, there is a wide range of calls we can make, many of which can be made to TPS registered numbers eg if the person has previously telephoned us about some casework, or if it is not a "marketing" call. Our opponents have been making much more extensive use of such calls.
Therefore, the new version of EARS (v8.2.7 onwards) includes the option to include or exclude TPS registered numbers so that you can pick the appropriate list depending on whom you are calling and about what.
TPS cleaning is now an integral part of the EARS (for Windows) program
The 
icon on the top right of the menu bar on the main screen provides the TPS functions. Clicking on Create TPS export file automatically produces a backup to send to the EARS office for TPS cleaning.
Procedure for TPS cleaning:
Send us a backup of your data either by email to tpsclean@datatrans.co.uk (if you use MS Outlook for email, EARS can send it automatically for you) or on a labelled floppy disc or CD-rom, plus a cheque made payable to EARS or a credit card payment. Please remember to include return address, either email or postal.
TPS Contracts: What we will do
With a contract we can hold the data here. We will tele-append the latest telephone numbers (if paid for) researched from BT OSIS into the data. If you add any phone numbers yourselves, then you will need to send us another copy of your data. If you want to leave a gap between cleans because you are not phoning for a period of time, i.e. Christmas period, just let us know. Normally we would expect you to use all your cleans within 18 months of starting the contract.
To request that we set up a contract, please use the form below. Please note: this form covers both Tele-appending and TPS Cleaning.