TV Licence visit? What next

why bother? You've no obligation to speak to them at all. The rubbish they post on their website about havign to contact them to tell them you have a tv but don't use it to watch tv and that someone may need to come out to confirm this is exactly that, Rubbish!

If past stories are to be believed then this wouldn't help anyway as they'd continue to send you letters and threats afterwards.

ok, choose to ignore the fact that if you never speak to them you have absolutely no chance of ending up in court, and as i said, when you actually speak to them it makes no difference, you still get the accusing letters through the door, there was a thread on this not too long ago. It's not about rights it's about not being bothered by people who wont listen to you anyway as they believe everyone has a television and uses it to watch broadcast programmes.

Print_Screen wrote: »

... Anyway he said that my details will be passed on to the enforcement department. What I hoped someone could tell me was what is the next thing I should expect from Capita? A few enforcment officers turning up with a warrant asking me to prove Im inoccent?

You will probably get another visit from a TVL agent and lots of letters. They are extremely unlikely to get a warrant so don't worry about that. What they will probably try to do is to get you to sign a 'confession' when they visit.

Unfortunately TVL assume everyone without a TV licence is guilty and are fair game for threats. Even if you prove you have no TV and they agree to leave you alone, it is only for a year or two and it all starts again.

chocolatechipcookies wrote: »

You do not need a licence if you are not using the TV for watching TV, ie if you use it for films and gaming.

You need a license if the TV is capable of receiving television - whether you use it or not!

adouglasmhor wrote: »

You need a license if the TV is capable of receiving television - whether you use it or not!

Err...afraid not. You only need a licence if the TV receives signals. You could have 20 TVs in your house but if none of them are hooked up to an aerial then you don't need a licence.

To the OP, don't worry. To get a warrant they would need reasonable evidence that you have been watching TV, without a signed confession it'll never happen.

You'll now be on the roundabout list of nasty letters, getting nastier, then a gap, then a nice letter, gradually nastier letters over time, then a gap and so on. Every now and then someone may turn up but without a warrant just send them away, they have no rights as interviews must be conducted within the remit of the 1984 Police and Criminal evidence act (PACE), you must have your rights read to you and the opportunity to read through PACE whenever you want. You are also entitled to ask them to leave any time.

Capita will have a list of homes in Britain and a list of homes with licences, in their view every other home is illegally watching telly. It's beyond their comprehension that anyone would choose to not watch TV. As stated on another website the DVLA don't send letters to every house without a driving licence saying "We know you have no driving licence, you must get one if you have a car and we're sending someone round as we've detected a car on your drive", and you don't have to write to DVLA once a year updating them on the fact that you still don't have a car.

What I found scary was when I bought a freeview box as a present for someone a few years ago with my debit card and a few weeks later had a letter addressed to me personally saying "You recently bought a set top box and there is no evidence of a licence at your address, we are sending someone round to find out why" (paraphrased)
Meaning Tesco passed my information onto Capita, name, address and purchase details, something unpleasant about that in my mind but data protection act doesn't seem to cover 'TV licencing' (which btw is just a trading name of the BBC, owned in full by the BBC).