‘I was humiliated’ – ordeal of man arrested in front of his children, all because of a new phone

Robert Turner, who lives in Throop, switched from BT to Virgin Media last summer and was assigned a new telephone number.

However, the father-of-two said it was not long before he started receiving dozens of calls for a business unknown to him.

“We were getting six, seven or more calls a day,” he said. “There were calls from debt collectors demanding money and on one occasion a school rang about a child failing to turn up to school.”

The family found the number listed on a website for a business.

When they called the number to point out the mistake, it is claimed the man who answered aggressively refused to remove the number.

Mr Turner said he called Virgin Media seven times asking for help to resolve the problem.

“They just said nothing could be done unless the company removed the number from its website and advised me it could be identity theft,” he added.

The situation came to a head on December 14 when police officers arrived at Mr Turner’s home.

“I had just done breakfast for my girls, aged eight and 13, when the door went at 8.45am,” he said.

“They told me I was under arrest for fraudulent representation.

“I was still in my dressing gown and my eight-year-old daughter was stood next to me.

“Then they followed me upstairs to get dressed. It was humiliating.”

Mr Turner said police told him his telephone number had been registered to a debit card which had made four fraudulent transactions. Mr Turner’s name and address were not registered to the card.

He claims he was put in a cell for two-and-a-half hours and questioned for 45 minutes before being released on bail. He received confirmation that charges had been dropped on January 9.

He said although the experience “put a cloud over Christmas”, he placed no blame with police but is upset Virgin Media have never offered an apology.

A spokesman for Dorset Police said the force could not comment on the case.