A TYNESIDE MP has launched a Parliamentary campaign to ensure a better deal for consumers who have their mobile phones stolen.
North Tyneside’s Mary Glindon has a tabled a Commons motion, saying customers are liable for the cost of calls incurred on their mobile phones after they are stolen and before the theft is noticed and reported.
It says consumers can be left with huge bills and urges mobile phone companies to reduce charges in such circumstances. The motion has won cross-party backing. She said: “It’s bad enough when a person’s mobile phone is stolen, with all its personal information and photos, but then to be landed with huge bills when there is a gap for a range of understandable reasons between theft and reporting it makes matters much worse.
“The mobile phone companies should do much more work on technical solutions to spot criminal use but I worry that they lack the incentives to do this as the can coin in profits from theft.
“It’s elementary fairness to reduce their charges to what it actually costs them as opposed to how much they sell the service for.
As more and more people use mobile phones this is a problem that potentially affects very many people.
The Labour MP added: “This is a major issue for many people and I hope that my cross-party Commons motion can help place pressure on ministers, regulatory bodies and the mobile phone companies to do much more to tackle it.”
