WE live in a funny world of skewed priorities. A world where the authorities prefer to penalise the law-abiding people they know they can catch and who will cough up.

So many people have been criminalised by motoring penalties over the last few years that all of the stigma has gone out of having a conviction.

Meanwhile, real criminals – the low-level vandals and thieves – normally get away with it because they are too difficult to find, and too difficult to pin down.

We know all this of course. But what made my blood boil this week was that it has spread to the corporate world. I heard a news item on Tuesday about how the telephone regulators can now fine errant companies up to £2million for ‘silent’ marketing phone calls.

These silent calls usually occur when companies dial several numbers at once but fail to have a staff member on hand when the phone is answered.

These calls are a terrific nuisance and I accept errant firms should be brought into line. But £2million? Really?

How comes the weight of the world can be brought against a company for an annoying series of phone calls, when on the other hand car clamping firms have legally bullied and ripped the public off for years until now?

And why is it now so attractive and easy to punish people who annoy the public, as opposed to the ones who actually rob you or beat you up?

I understand Parliament approved these tough new fines last September. I suggest MPs spend more time beefing up punishments for crimes where there are real victims, as opposed to annoyed people at the other end of a phone.