THOSE who own a telephone — be it a landline or mobile — should have an easier life after 6 April.

That is when new legislation to clamp down on nuisance calls comes into force, with company bosses being personally liable for fines of up to £500,000.

I make no apology for having rattled on about this subject for years.

Hardly a day goes by but I return home to find the General Manager spitting feathers after receiving yet another call to her mobile phone with a pre-recorded message which starts along the lines of: “We are contacting you in relation to your accident as we may be able to make a claim on your behalf.” I have been present on umpteen occasions when my beloved has received such a call and she gets so angry I sometimes go elsewhere in the house until she cools down.

Apart from the fact that the GM has not been injured in an accident since falling off a horse before we were married more than 30 years ago, how do these companies — whoever they are — get hold of her mobile phone number?

Incidentally, regarding the riding accident, the GM occasionally tells people: “I fell off a horse and some months later married a donkey.” I do not have full details of the new legislation but understand it will penalise businesses who get hold of a landline or mobile number illegally.

Hopefully it will also mean that a company or organisation you have willingly given your number to for whatever requirement will be fined if they pass it on to another party without your permission.

For some unfathomable reason the GM receives at least a dozen ‘cold calls’ and texts to her mobile every week yet I do not get any.

However, both of us are pestered by up to 30 unwanted calls to our landline number on a weekly basis. Bizarrely, at least twice a year we get callers to the landline asking to speak to a previous owner of Gowar Towers who if still alive would now be more than 110 years old!