A SECURITY company that failed to tell a North-East caller he was ringing a premium rate line has been fined £5,000.

Detroit Security Systems Limited, of Wembley, has been ordered to pay up after the phone regulator Icstis upheld a number of regulatory breaches, including a complaint from a County Durham man.

Last month, a company called Phoenix Media, from Mold, North Wales, was fined £6,000 after a caller from Sunderland complained about a prize claim phone line that charged callers £1.50 a minute.

In the case of Detroit Security, officials from Icstis investigated a number of complaints about a premium phone line including the complaint by the County Durham resident that callers had experienced unreasonable delays during calls and some had been placed on hold.

The County Durham complainant, who lives near Bishop Auckland, said he was not told in advance that he was connected to a premium rate line charging callers £1.50 a minute.

He also complained that he had been put on hold during the calls, which cost him £30.41 for two evening calls lasting a total of 22 minutes.

Icstis officials also found that a phone message requesting callers to dial the premium rate number did not contain pricing information, contrary to regulations.

It also appeared that Detroit Security Systems had not obtained permission to operate a live premium rate call service.

Because of the infringements, the Icstis adjudication panel met on February 23 and found that the service operated by Detroit Security Systems was in breach of three areas of the code of conduct.

The committee considered the breaches to be serious and imposed the £5,000 fine, issued a formal reprimand and placed a bar on the service until permission is granted and redress offered to all complainants.

Last week, Icstis announced a significant reduction in the number of complaints about premium rates services.

The phone regulator received almost 27,000 complaints about premium rate services last year -66 per cent fewer than 2004.

To make a complaint, call Icstis free on 0800 500 212 or log on to www.icstis.org.u