Fined £275 for watching YOUTUBE

[Deleted User]

Flyboy152 wrote: »

Well, buy a licence and the letters will stop....job done.

To stop the letters, I should buy a TV Licence I don't actually need :huh:

£14-50 a year is quite a price to pay, to stop junk mail.

Buying a licence you don't need, to stop letter you haven't asked for, sounds like giving in to blackmail.

[Deleted User]

George_Michael wrote: »

The number of letters classed as reminder letters

And the BBC's definition of a "reminder letter" is what exactly?

I've only ever received one letter, which sought to remind me of anything.

The rest tell me I "MAY BE BREAKING THE LAW", my property is "CURRENTLY UNDER INVESTIGATION", my property "IS STILL UNLICENSED", etc.

George_Michael

And the BBC's definition of a "reminder letter" is what exactly?

TV licencing send a renewal reminder to licence holders that don't pay via a direct debit to tell them that their licence is due to expire shortly.
Those people that pay with a DD get a statement each year to show what their payments will be for the forthcoming year.

So, this means that out of that figure of 83 million, every household who holds a lcence will get a letter of some sort.
This leaves whatever is left for enforcement "threatograms" and other licencing related stuff.

Seems to me you aren't going to leave this even when the BBC Trust tell you there are 83 million letters

Care to show me where I have ever disputed that there were 83 million letters??
What I have disputed is your claim that there were 83/85 million threatening letters. (and which despite valiant efforts, you have still not come close to proving)

Cornucopia

The latest figure for letters sent by "TVL" is 90 million, IIRC.

Given that there are around 21 million licenced households, I think we can safely assume that they receive one letter each, per household per year - either a DD summary or a licence renewal letter.

That leaves around 69 million letters shared amongst the remaining group of evaders + legally licence free.

Site such as: bbctvlicence.com track these letters, and the experience of most evaders/LLF people is that they receive monthly letters of varying tone whilst they remain unco-operative with "TVL". Which would explain how we get to the figure of 69 million.

I'm sure it's great business for the Royal Mail (unless they make a loss on each one, which is plausible).

Anyway, the good news is that there are a variety of ways of stopping the letters without giving in to "TVL"'s non-statutory demands. (And why would anyone give in to demands that are non-statutory/non-contractual?)

The simplest way is a "Cease & Desist" instruction. Others include making an official complaint to the BBC. If the letters can be stopped, clearly they were not that important in the first place.

edit: There is a more detailed breakdown on the "TVL" website, here: tvlicensing.co.uk/about/foi-administering-the-tv-licensing-system-part-1-AB19/

But... the figures do not tally with those released by the BBC Trust and under FOI (which I am inclined to give greater credence to).

NiallB

I hate to point this out, but you do know you've spelt your username wrongly, don't you Salfordian?

shaun_from_Africa

NiallB wrote: »

I hate to point this out, but you do know you've spelt your username wrongly, don't you Salfordian?

I noticed that as well, but he will probably say that it was intentional.


Anyway, on the TV licencing subject.
About 5 years ago I was selling a house and as I had moved out and it wasn't furnished, I didn't need a TV licence.

I received the first reminder (which was fair enough), and I wrote back informing them that I didn't need one.
The property was empty for almost a year and during this time I received 3 more letters, the last one informing me that someone was going to visit to confirm the facts.

I then sent a registered letter to the "enforcement officer" named on the last mail I received, informing him that if I received any more threatening letters I would be taking legal action against the person who signed it.
I actually received an apologetic reply stating that no further letters would be sent for 2 years.

As I sold the house about 3 months after this, I don't know if they did actually stick to their promise.

marleyboy

shaun_from_Africa wrote: »

I noticed that as well, but he will probably say that it was intentional.

I found it pretty desperate myself - but judging by his posts, unsurprising.

bazster

Blimey, is this still going on? To save me wading back through it all, has Sa(l)fordian told us yet whether he is a criminal, or merely a sad little person with nothing better to do than get hot under the collar about a few letters and the odd knock on the door?

martinthebandit

SEE wrote: »

I've just been fined £275 by the BBC for watching YOUTUBE. I had no idea you needed a TV licence for a computer to watch other peoples home made movies. I've also been told that you need a TV licence for a DVD player by the courts, but DVDs are purchased and paid for, why do people need to pay again? I'M STUNNED!

Thanks for such a useful post, have a pat on the back

bazster

shaun_from_Africa wrote: »

The property was empty for almost a year and during this time I received 3 more letters, the last one informing me that someone was going to visit to confirm the facts.

I fail to see what the problem is with someone visiting to "confirm the facts". I've had a number of such visits over the years, and they all went along these lines:

<knock on door>

"Good afternoon sir, I'm calling because our records show that this address doesn't have a TV licence"

"That's right, it doesn't, that's because we don't have a TV"

"Thank you sir, sorry to have troubled you, goodbye".

n.b. I do have both a TV and a licence now.