THE DAILY Echo’s End the Sound of Silence campaign to bring an end to silent calls has scored another success.

Communications regulator Ofcom has announced a further clampdown to end the nuisance calls.

It comes six years after The Daily Echo, in conjunction with Radio Solent, campaigned to bring a halt to the controversial marketing ploy.

Hundreds of residents backed our campaign calling for a change in the law to stop companies bombarding people with nuisance calls.

Our campaign took a giant leap in 2006 when the government announced new measures to stamp out the practice with fines of up to £50,000 for offending companies.

Now in a further crackdown Ofcom is proposing a new rule to prevent a company calling an answer phone more than once in any 24-hour period, unless a call centre agent is on hand to answer the call.

Ofcom also hopes to increase the amount it can fine offending companies to £1m.

Dozens of people told us how they had become the victims of telemarketing firms using computers to automatically dial random numbers simultaneously.

Daily Echo reader Sheila Hill, 75, of Fair Oak, who sparked the campaign after being inundated with silent calls, welcomed the latest crackdown.

She said: “One silent call is one too many. At the height of the problem it was absolutely appalling but we are getting a lot fewer silent calls now.

“Anything that stops companies making them is a good thing.”