A Scottish property firm has been fined £80,000 for making nuisance calls to the public.

Glasgow-based Xternal Property Renovations made more than 109,000 calls to people who had tried to block such calls by registering with the Telephone Preference Service (TPS).

The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) found the firm failed to screen the list of people it planned to call against details of TPS subscribers. It also failed to ensure its telesales staff knew how to comply with the law.

Once complainer said: "I get these calls from early in the morning until late at night. I'm disabled and I worry about these calls."

Another said: "I was concerned about how this company got my details - particularly my name. My number is TPS-registered and has been ex-directory for more than 30 years."

Xternal Property Renovations has also been issued with a legal notice ordering it to stop making unlawful calls.

Ken Macdonald, head of ICO Regions, said: "Nuisance marketing, whether it's by calls to people's landline or mobile, or through spam texts, causes disruption, annoyance and, in the worst cases, serious upset.

"We issue fines like these to firms behind nuisance marketing to send a clear message that such action will not be tolerated."

He added: "The ICO is looking forward to the commencement of our new powers, announced by the government last year, which will allow us to fine the directors of nuisance marketing firms as well as the companies themselves.

"This will enable us to take even more of a stand against the firms causing distress and intrusion to people's lives."