Four-letter rant greeted helpline callers

13 April 2012

An irate customer who hacked into a cable TV firm's phone helpline and recorded a message telling callers to 'f*** off' has walked free from court.

Magistrates decided that the message, although offensive, did not reach the "grossly offensive" standard for prosecution and acquitted Ashley Gibbins.

He discovered by chance that he could change the recorded message so everyone who rang NTL's customer service helpline was met with the stream of abuse, Teesside Magistrates' Court heard.

The polite message asking customers to hold was changed to: "Hello, you're through to NTL customer services.

"We don't give a f about you, basically, and we are not going to handle any of your complaints.

"Just f*** off and leave us alone. Get a life."

The court heard how the taxi driver carried out the practical joke after being kept on hold for an hour while trying to order broadband for his computer.

His joke backfired when NTL complained to the police and he was arrested.

Mr Gibbins, 26, from Redcar, Cleveland, was charged with an offence under the Communications Act 2003 of making a grossly offensive message.

NTL declined to comment on the case.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in