“Most people I’ve told have had a real laugh about it,” he said. When I rang the woman at the HSBC, my bank, she was wetting herself. I think it’s funny. One of my neighbours told in me great detail how much he hates it. He said I was a bloody idiot, but I told him where to get off.” It cost Tim £30 to change his name via deed poll and a further £70 to change the name on his passport. “I’ve just got my driving licence and passport back. I’m looking forward to the next time I go abroad – it should raise a few eyebrows going through customs. It’s taken a long time to sort everything out, but I don’t regret it,” he said.
“I hope the name acts as fly repellant to those people – and it attracts funny people with a good sense of humour.” But would it not have been cheaper and easier to register with the TPS, the Telephone Preference Service, a regulatory body that can stop these marketing calls? “I’ve not heard of it,” Tim said. It exists purely to help householders stop the sort of tele-marketing calls that drive Tim mad. “Well, I read about something similar, but I was told it would cost £15 a month, so I didn’t bother with it,” he said. A spokesman for the Telephone Preference Service – which is free – said it would be happy to help.
“We can’t comment on individual cases and haven’t been made aware of the specific details of Mr Pppppppppprice’s particular experiences of unsolicited marketing calls. However, we can say that Mr Pppppppppprice should have first spent a few seconds registering his telephone number with the Telephone Preference Service. This free service is proven to be far more effective than the Deed Poll Service at blocking cold calls.” Mr Pppppppppprice, however, has no regrets. “I like it. I like to make people smile. My mum and dad are dead, but my dad had a great sense of humour. He would have liked it. I have two brothers. One of them thinks it’s funny. The other one isn’t speaking to me.”
