Absolutely useless T.V. licence department

vet8

We sold our house over a year ago and as I paid for the T.V. licence by DD I telephoned the licence people and told them the whole story and said we were moving out into temporary accommodation and would not have a T.V. until we had sorted out somewhere else to live, so we would not need a new licence for a while. Fair enough. The new owners changed the name of the house and I assume they have a licence. Meanwhile, we have retained the land and plan to convert an old building into a house, but we have not even started on this yet.


However this has not stopped the Hitlers in the T.V. licencing dept. from sending us rude, aggressive, stroppy, but basically useless letters every month threatening us with a visit and now legal action. If they bothered to pay us a visit as they have said they would for the past 6 months, they would see that there is no building on this land, no electricity, no ariel, no telephone line and so no broadband and absolutely no way we could be watching T.V. by any means. I must say I have been pretty bloody minded over this and I refuse to spend my time and money telephoning them about it again. I have tried to register on their website that we do not need a licence, but if the reason is that the house is unoccupied you have to phone them and cannot do it online.


I find these useless letters a waste of space, why not just send a man around and he will see the state of the place? I have checked with the council street numbering and addressing section and they accept there is no address on this land, we are not registered to vote there and there are no services connected, it is just an empty plot of land. Why the T.V. Licencing people think we would have a T.V. is a mystery, but if we did have one we would have been watching it for a full year without a licence and all they have done is send letters – useless.


Meanwhile we have bought a flat nearby, we don't have a licence there either as I have got rid of the T.V. which I have been threatening to do for years, it is great I do not miss it at all. However, the T.V. licencing people seem unaware that we live there and think the flat is still empty, they sent us a letter saying that as it is unoccupied we do not need a licence. We have registered to vote , we pay Council tax and have registered with the electricity and water companies . All of this stuff indicates that the flat is occupied and the owners might be watching T.V. but the licencing people have done nothing.



After all this is amazing that anyone bothers to buy a licence.

davidlizard

The letters are simply monthly computer generated threat-o-grams that are automatically sent to all addresses that do not appear on their database. Simply throw them away and don't take them personally.

In this day and age, the goons from the BBC (TV Licencing is simply an alias to try and disassociate "auntie" with the revenue collection harassment activities) do not believe people actually do not want a television. These letters overstate their authority - they have no special powers or rights.

See this for an example of the bile they send. http://www.bbctvlicence.com/ At the end of the day if any commercial company resorted to sending such threatening letters to try and get people buy their products they would be up in front of a judge.

In the unlikely event of having one of these round, the best approach is to simply tell them to leave your property and shut the door in their faces. Again they have no special legal powers to demand access to your property - they have as much right as me or the paperboy. Invite them in and they will soon start fabricating evidence, as plenty of posts here have shown.

However the more time and money we can get the BBC to waste chasing licence fees the better. It gives commercial television and radio a more level playing field.

davidlizard

Oh yes - an remember you are under no obligation to tell them that you do not want a licence, in the same way that you do not need to tell the DVLA you do not require a driving licence, or Kenwood that you do not own a food mixer. So there is no need to waste time or money on stamps or phone calls - they won't believe you anyway and demand to send a goon round.

And also remember you do not require a licence to own a telly - you can quite legally watch DVDs and play console games without giving "auntie" a penny.

jamespir

davidlizard wrote: »

And also remember you do not require a licence to own a telly - you can quite legally watch DVDs and play console games without giving "auntie" a penny.

thats tosh if you have the means of watching tv you need a licence

sarahg1969

jamespir wrote: »

thats tosh if you have the means of watching tv you need a licence

You seem to have misread davidlizard's post. He's right.

MeanParent

If you have told them and they continue to send letters, make a note of the times you have told them and visit your local police station and file a complaint of harassment. I doubt they will do anything but it gives you a point from which you can sue the !!!!!!s for harassment!

Gers

jamespir wrote: »

thats tosh if you have the means of watching tv you need a licence

Absolutely not true - if you had read the comprehensive outline of the legal position posted above you'd understand that.

MeanParent

jamespir wrote: »

thats tosh if you have the means of watching tv you need a licence

Rubbish. You only need a licence if you watch broadcast or near instantaneous broadcast programs, not for pre-recorded entertainment. The TV may even have a tuner but if it is not tuned in or connected to an ariel then a licence is not required.

The broadcast need not be to a TV but can be to a computer or phone or other device.

Alex-Riley.

jamespir wrote: »

thats tosh if you have the means of watching tv you need a licence

Sorry but your in the wrong there

If you're watching live broadcast tv you need a license but if you want to play video games or watch dvd's no license is required

shaun_from_Africa

jamespir wrote: »

thats tosh if you have the means of watching tv you need a licence

I agree with the others. This statement is incorrect.
To require a TV licence you must be using the TV (or other device) to watch or record live transmissions. Simply owning the equipment is not enough.

A quick look at the Telecommunications act 2004 will confirm this as it clearly states the licence is required to use (not own) a TV receiver.

A licence—
(a) to install and use television receivers at the single
place specified in the licence or, as the case may be, in
the single vehicle, vessel or caravan so specified (“the
specified location”);

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2004/692/pdfs/uksi_20040692_en.pdf

This is also confirmed by TV licencing themselves.

No TV? Don't watch or record television programmes as they're being broadcast on any device? The law states that you need to be covered by a TV Licence if you watch or record television programmes, on any device, as they're being shown on TV. This includes TVs, computers, mobile phones, games consoles, digital boxes and DVD/VHS recorders.
No TV Licence is needed if you don't use any of these devices to watch or record television programmes as they're being shown on TV - for example, if you use your TV only to watch DVDs or play video games, or you only watch programmes on your computer after they have been shown on TV

.

http://www.tvlicensing.co.uk/check-if-you-need-one/topics/what-if-a-tv-licence-is-not-needed-top12/

vikingaero

I agree that TVL/Crapita are useless.

I didn't renew our licence a few years ago as our CRT TV went bang. I wanted to take time to research my LCD options and to wait for the sales. I bought a new LCD TV 6 months later on Boxing Day and went online to buy a licence. Their system then backdated my new licence to the expiry of the old one. So I only had 6 months left of the new licence.

I then played email ping pong with them before emailing a formal letter of complaint which made then convert my licence back to 12 months from the time of purchase.