TEIGNBRIDGE MP Richard Younger-Ross has called on the Office of Fair Trading to investigate the case of a Teignmouth businessman who was the target of an attempted postal scam this week.

On Tuesday Paul Fellows, landlord of the Blue Anchor Inn in Teign Street, received an official-looking final notice from a company calling itself Data Protection Agency Services to pay £95 to register his business under the Data Protection Act 1998.

Mr Younger-Ross said that the scam has been operating nationally for about 18 months, but this was the first case that he had come across in south Devon.

In fact most of the companies that have received the notice do not need to register, but if they do they can do so directly with the Information Commissioner for just £35.

The four-page document addressed to Mr Fellows came from a registered company address listed as 64 Brownley Road, Smallthorne, Stoke-on-Trent ST6 1PY.

Mr Fellows was told that he had still not registered his business with the Information Commissioner, and that failure to register was a criminal offence punishable with a £5,000 fine. He was advised to complete the form immediately and to send a cheque payable to 'National Registration Fee'.

Mr Fellows said that his suspicions were soon aroused, particularly because the form had come in an unfranked brown envelope that carried an ordinary second-class stamp.

'I thought it looked a bit suspicious and not really like a government document,' he said. 'It mentioned "final notice" but I had not received any previous notice. I checked with my wife and she could not remember any either. So I decided to alert Mr Younger-Ross about it.'

The MP said that it was important that people did not waste their money by replying to the form.

'This is nothing short of a scam and if it is not illegal it should be,' he said. 'If people think they do need to register under the Data Protection Act, they should contact the Notification Department, the Office of the Information Commissioner, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire SK9 5AF.'

Mr Younger-Ross confirmed that the Office of Fair Trading was investigating Mr Fellows' case. He said that the OFT in Devon would be happy to hear from any other business that had received such a letter.