02089564065

Just had a call from 0208 956 4110 wants to get editorial and  wanted £4,950 from us for the placement of a 1,000 word report, or £2,750 for 500 words. Asked for something in writing and they could not provide it. Her name was Elizabeth Young of the Parliamentary Information Office

I am called by these people on a regular basis since they never take my details off their database.

They are part of Blakes Publishing, and I did a bit of digging on them a while back and found that Mr P Blake and his business partner Ms J Briers have at one point been disbarred from holding company directorships.

The publication certainly exists and there is an online version of it too. However, it does not have the readership that the company implies, and you may as well just go to their offices and hand your hard earned business profits directly to their MD for all the good it would do you.

Don't get caught out by them. They are litigious and have strong contracts which, if caught out, you would end up having to pay.

They seem to have changed their number to: 0208 956 4110. Got a call from Vik Tyler.

Got a call from Richard Lewis on 0208 756 4110 re Government initiative on the regeneration 2012 of Thames Gateway area

Receiving calls on a weekly basis, very pushy, very rude, very persistent

Took two calls from a "David Edwards" - one last week, the other today.
Today I read out the various stories and reports here and on blagger.com to him and asked him to explain why such bad press.
His reply was that it was just lies spread by jealous competitors. I then told him that was exactly the same thing somebody else from his company had said last year when I did the same thing and wondered why they weren't doing more to dispel these stories.
He flapped and floundered and huffed and puffed. I told him that until they fixed their online image there was no way we would be happy to do business with them.
The number he gave was 02089564110, which I note is the same as 'Vik Tyler' cited above.
Need I add, do not touch these charlatans with a barge pole.

Just had a call from William Rose, works for the Parliamentary Information Office wanting to speak to our MD about a governement report regarding excellence in IT. Nearly fooled me with his rather posh accent! Took his number 0208 958 4110. After reading the posts above, I'm glad I didn't give him any other details like the MDs name otherwise we'd never hear the last of them.

Just received a phone call from James Smith at the Parlimentary Information Office. Same as above really, only wanted to speak to an MD or CEO.
Advised that our company had been identified as a Model of Excellence and asked for the President (as we don't have a CEO) to call him back on 0208 956 4110.
After reading the above, I certainly wont be passing this message on!

I received a call from Richard Lewis of the Parliamentary Information Office, on 020 8956 4000, trying to interest me, as an example of an organisation to the fore in regeneration works, in submitting an article in the Brown Book, (a leather bound volume; I could scarcely contain my exitement!), which sits on the table in Parliament and is eagerly read by The Industry. There were only going to be five of us contributing - Balfour Beatty, Skanska, and three little tiddlers, of which we are one. Eventually, he got to the point, which was that he wanted £2 900 from me to secure an entry. From the background noise, it was a call centre, and someone must have made a sale, as there was a deafening round of applause.

Angle this time was "our researchers have identified your organisation as an example of excellence in service to members" and we would therefore like to invite you to take space in  anew report"... dropped Vince Cable's name. Politely told them to go away...

Just had a call from David Scott from the above number calling from the Parliamentary Information Office regarding a report being prepared for Andrew Lansley with regards to Healthcare. He had the name of the person he wanted to speak to and was very hot on the fact it was Andrew Lansley who was preparing this report. Not suprisingly didn't put it through....

Thanks for all these posts - I have had Richard Lewis on about three times now.  Does sound very convincing.  I will know what to say to him next time.

James Smith, Parliamentary Information Office, Head of UK Industry Section, telephoned to say we had won an award as a company Model of Excellence.  His telephone number was 020 8956 4110.  I was immediately suspicious as the number has a prefix 0208.  I looked up the number and came across this website.  Dodgy.

I also had a call from David Scott of the Parliamentary Information Office about the government healthcare initiative on behalf of Andrew Lansley. Insisting on speaking to the MD.  Got very snotty with me when I  interrogated him about nature of call, legal requirements to comply etc so then I hung up on him! HaHa.

I work for a large University and these people call us constantly (I asked our switchboard to provide a log of calls and they had called nearly 100 times in six months).

They call our academics claiming to be producing a special feature on x, which happens to be the academic's area of expertise. I have spoken to several of the salespeople (today was David Scott), each time they are unable to answer the most basic of questions: do you have an audited circulation certificate? can you send me a copy of the publication? Any legitimate salesperson would say yes to either of these, but they turn very nasty when questioned. I hope that others don't fall into the trap of spending money with them.

Lawrence Rowe contacted my organisation some time ago, it took just a couple of minutes to unpick the attempted fraud.  Just out of interest, I spent a little time digging and uncovered a little information about the ‘Parliamentary Information Office’

Firstly, the accusations made against the cold callers – misrepresentation, lying, fraud and, false names.  

Call centre staff are apparently recruited from adverts placed in the ‘Stage Magazine’ and are out of work actors using apparently false names.

Call centre staff are not paid.  They are on commission only.  Perhaps hunger accounts for the tactics used by the cold callers.  Staff turnover in the call centre is high.

Names given by cold callers (all found on the web) - check also Who Calls Me  www.whocallsme.com

the ecclesiastic – three Bishops, a Church, a Bell and a Parish
the colourful – Messrs Black, Brown and Green
the strong – Castle, Towers and Knight
A confusion over Owen Charles and Charles Owen.

And, absolutely no foreign names among any of the cold callers – are Blake’s not breaking some regulation re equality on top of everything else?

A few other websites of interest – Companies House – enter any of the company numbers below
Also, www.checksure.biz   gives numerous details re past companies used by Blake’s

Blake Contract Publishing Limited (Insolvency Proceedings)   03034602
Blake’s Contract Ltd   03086287
Parliamentary Information Services   3532831
The Blake Organisation Limited (Dissolved or Strike Off pending)   03821680
Blake’s (International Division) Limited (Dissolved or Strike Off pending   02532042
Blake’s Houses of Parliament Year Book International Limited   02587421
Blake Publications Limited (Dissolved or Strike Off pending)   02831278
    5 December 2001 Compulsory Winding Up Order, Petition by Inland Revenue. Hearing at     High Courts of Justice, The Strand. (Finance Magazine, 28 November 2001, page 17)
BCP Properties Ltd (shared an address with Blake’s in the past – Gable House)
    BCP may indicate Blake’s Contract Printing/Publishing   02027963

Check the variety of addresses used on Checksure’s website – especially at their previous address of 239 Regents Park Road.

Blake’s have a proud claim that their Parliamentary Year Book is held in high regard and even has a special place in the Speaker’s Chair – check their website’s home page and you will find the claim on the scrolling list of quotes (Bernard Weatherill, comes just after Tony Blair).  This caught my attention, so I enquired of the House of Commons Information Office (the real Information Office for Parliament) who enquired of the Speaker’s Office on my behalf.  I received a written reply to my enquiry which stated that ‘this book is not kept in the Speaker’s Chair’, the Speaker’s Office are aware of this on Blake’s website and have written to them to ask them to remove it from their website as it is untrue.’.  Blake’s now attribute the claim to Bernard Weatherill, a now deceased MP – so apparently the claim can remain on their website.

Beware, Blake’s has many guises, and now operates internationally in Europe and in North America, it is not just those in the UK that are affected by this company.

Other numbers used by Blake’s Parliamentary Information Office over the years include –
0208 356 4000   0208 356 4065
0208 956 4000   0208 956 4041   0208 956 4061   0208 956 4065    
0208 956 4070   0208 956 4087   0208 956 4100   0208 956 4110
I am sure that there are some numbers not listed here.

Addresses used by Blake’s over the years –
(details from Check Sure, Credit Gate and Companies House)
Second Floor, Gadd House, Arcadia Road, Finchley, London, N3 3JU (current)
Gable House, 239 Regents Park Road, Finchley, London, N3 3LF
12 – 14 High Road, East Finchley, London, N3 9JP (Trading address only)
ACI House, Torrington Park, London, N12 9SZ (Trading address only)
22 Parkway, Southgate, London, N14 6QU

Action has been taken against the company by – Inland Revenue, Customs and Excise and more than one Trading Standards organisation.

The Department of Education wrote to the Editor, Parliamentary Yearbook on 15 October 2007 after educational establishments received a flurry of calls from the PIO.

Yet to this day, with over 30 years trading history, the company appears fireproof and immune from meaningful action.  There are some interesting questions needing an answer.  Perhaps we should nominate the company for an award, The Queen’s Award to Industry, they are certainly successful.

I had a similar call from phone number 02089564110

Got a call from a South African sounding dude called David Scott.  I remember getting a call a while back along similar line and the dude was called Esuan Steenkamp.  Methinks they are the same person.

Anyway, whoever you are, I got you pegged, son. I asked you if you worked for the Government and you said YES.  YOU LIAR. I could actually hear you quaking in your boots.

Thanks to all for posting information here.  I had a call from David Scott of Parliamentary Information Office on 0208 956 4110.  Something about the call did not ring true.  Mr Scott claimed to be seeking reactions to ministerial reports, but could not provide any supporting documentation, as he said that the reports had not yet been completed.  He inferred that he was phoning on behalf of Ministers.  I won't be responding!

I've just had a message left from a David Scott on 0208 9564110 and representing the parliamentary Information Office. Thank you everyone for sharing your experiences. needsless to say I won't be calling him back.