A PROLIFIC nuisance caller has been slapped with a three-year restraining order for a sustained campaign of harassment against Trafford Council staff.

Peter Gurmeet Singh, 36, from Langshaw Street, Old Trafford, has been found guilty of four counts of harassment between January and April of this year.

The harassment consisted of persistent calls to staff within various departments of the council.

Singh was sentenced to 16 weeks imprisonment, suspended for 12 months, with probation supervision and 240 hours unpaid work at Manchester Magistrates Court on May 9.

A restraining order against Singh was also issued to run for three years until May 8 2019.

The order prohibits Singh from making any contact, directly or indirectly with Trafford’s housing options services and its Contact Centre, Waterside, in Sale, except via in writing.

It also prohibits him from attending in person at the Housing Options Services or Access Trafford Contact Centre. Any breach of the order is a criminal offence and carries a maximum sentence of five years.

Joanne Hyde, Trafford Council’s corporate director for transformation and resources, said: “Trafford Council’s staff work hard to answer calls and help our residents with any inquiries they may have. Our staff are professional and efficient and should never be subjected to the kind of harassment that Mr Singh undertook.

“The council takes its staff's wellbeing very seriously and will not hesitate to protect them from the kind of harassment undertaken in this case. We do not undertake legal action lightly, but this was a sustained campaign of harassment and the council felt that only by taking this action would it remedy the situation.”

Singh had previously been made the subject of a restraining order on 18 August 2015 for two years preventing him from making contact with Trafford Council Social Services.