Fined £275 for watching YOUTUBE

[Deleted User]

I watch programmes on DVD, made by the BBC and Channel 4, but then I paid for the right to watch them, when I bought the DVD.

ETA: In the interests of complete accuracy, I might catch the odd programme, while visiting a friend's house, but then I'm covered by their licence.

[Deleted User]

Flyboy152 wrote: »

VEL is not to pay for roads.

No, it's a permit to use the roads, just as a TV licence is a permit to use the airwaves.

[Deleted User]

Flyboy152 wrote: »

I did not say that they called around to you, did I.

So can you link to any actual cases where, say DVLA, have, without any evidence of illegal behaviour, called at a person's home, to check if they were illegally operating a motor vehicle?

halibut2209

Don't be facetious, of course they don't knock on the door. That's not where your car is.

But they do patrol the streets making sure people have legal vehicles. Just the same as the TV people check whether people have licences.

[Deleted User]

halibut2209 wrote: »

But they do patrol the streets making sure people have legal vehicles.

Patrolling the streets is not dropping round.

It's a free country so, if BBC/TVL want to patrol the streets, they're free to do so.

Just the same as the TV people check whether people have licences.

Why would they need to knock on my door, to check if I have a licence :huh:

Surely they already know that, from their much vaunted database?

Flyboy152

Bedsit_Bob wrote: »

No, it's a permit to use the roads, just as a TV licence is a permit to use the airwaves.

But the licence fee goes to fund the BBC, unlike the VEL and roads.

Flyboy152

Bedsit_Bob wrote: »

So can you link to any actual cases where, say DVLA, have, without any evidence of illegal behaviour, called at a person's home, to check if they were illegally operating a motor vehicle?

Are you serious? Have been over to the motoring and transport boards? Have a look at Pepipoo and Honest John, the pages are full of people complaining they have been hard done by. But they, like many of your cohorts, fail to recognise that if they had followed the rules, they wouldn't be in the situation they find themselves.

Flyboy152

Bedsit_Bob wrote: »

Patrolling the streets is not dropping round.

It's a free country so, if BBC/TVL want to patrol the streets, they're free to do so.



Why would they need to knock on my door, to check if I have a licence :huh:

Surely they already know that, from their much vaunted database?

Make your mind up, they are either checking you have a licence or they they are checking you are not breaking the law, by not having a licence but using a television set.

Cornucopia

Flyboy152 wrote: »

Make your mind up, they are either checking you have a licence or they they are checking you are not breaking the law, by not having a licence but using a television set.

They are checking whether people are breaking the law. Except when their database is screwed-up and they go to premises that are licensed, thinking that they are not. (Apparently, this accounts for about 10% of "enquiries").

Either way, it seems from the dialog that followed from my original post that it remains true, as I said, that other agencies do not "drop by" to check whether we are breaking the law, or failing to pay the correct taxes. Just in case there is still confusion, I can confirm that by "drop by" I meant to people's homes, rather than their cars.

I'm sure there are some people who are hard done by with respect to their cars. I have some sympathy for them. However, there are good reasons to regulate car usage. Not so TVs. Furthermore, one's home-life is specifically protected in law. Not so one's "car-life".

Hopefully you can understand why some people choose not to be answerable to the BBC's agents in their own homes - not least because they don't have to. And this is not small business, either. In the latest figures, the BBC's agents are attempting around 4 million house-calls per year.

halibut2209

Your reasoning is flawed.

Consider the fishing licence analogy brought up before.

No, the EA don't go to your house to check you have a licence even if you having a fishing rod, because that's not where you use it. But they do go to fishing areas and check that people have licences.

You use a TV at home, so you are checked there. All this misdirection about other people not doing the same is pointless. If you need a licence for something, people are there to check at the place where that item is used.