Council gym membership drive accused of 'nuisance' call plague

A number of users of Selby’s ‘SOS’ facebook group took to the page earlier this week in order to express their dismay at the number and frequency of calls they had received.

One member was particularly annoyed by the marketing onslaught, complaining that he had received more than 40 calls, ‘litterally every 10 minutes, a different person each time’.

Another comment left on the page was from a worker at a local care home who was amused that the gym had called there in search of new members.

The calls had been made as part of an ongoing campaign to promote a ‘healthy lifestyle’ for those who live in the Selby area by the Council’s leisure contractors, Wigan Leisure and Culture Trust (WLCT).

A spokesman for WLCT told Selby Online, “We have been running a short-term campaign with a third party company, to encourage people to join the Selby Profiles gym. This will come to a close at the end of this week.

“We can reassure people that we will be taking all the feedback, both positive and negative, that we have received extremely seriously when reviewing the success of this campaign.”

WLCT’s latest marketing faux pas comes just over a week since they and the Council were roundly criticised over the use of ‘unauthorised’ advertising boards and hoardings.

The adverts have been located in several areas where it is has been suggested local businesses would have been refused permission to promote their own goods and services.