Halfords slapped with a £30,000 fine for breaching email marketing laws

The UK’s largest retailer of cycling products and services, Halfords, has been fined £30,000 by the UK’s data watchdog for breaking the law governing nuisance marketing by sending hundreds of thousands of unsolicited marketing emails to the public to promote the “Fix Your Bike” government scheme.

The “Fix Your Bike” scheme, funded by the Department of Transport, gave people a £50 voucher to use at registered repairers or mechanics for repairing unused bicycles and encouraged more people to cycle. Vouchers were released in batches to “manage capacity” as they were hugely popular at launch.

According to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), the company sent 498,179 unsolicited marketing emails to people in July 2020 without their informed consent, encouraging the recipients to book a free bicycle assessment and then redeem a £50 government voucher towards the cost of repairs at its stores, “which would generate income for the company.”

In defense, Halfords said the emails were sent in “legitimate interest.” But the ICO said the “legitimate interest” defense could not be used in place of consent when sending electronic marketing messages because it advertised a service offered by the company.

Besides, the ICO said that people who received Halfords’ Fix Your Bike scheme emails had not ‘opted in’ to marketing from the retailer, meaning Halfords could not offer a way to opt-out of the marketing emails. The email didn’t include an unsubscribe link.

The ICO’s head of investigations, Andy Curry, stated that sending unsolicited marketing emails or texts to individuals is illegal. If Halfords agrees to pay the fine before October 4, it’ll get a 20 percent discount meaning it has to cough £24,000.