tv licence court summons

adouglasmhor

piglet74 wrote: »

Thanks very much for ur advice

The forum mentioned above (licence resistance I think it was called) has suggested I print off the email and send it to the bbc (I can't recall which dept but have kept a copy of their message)

The woman in tv licencing said the inspector won't be there on the day, and I would have to ask for an adjournment if I wanted him there.

Thanks everyone for all the help

It's not up to the woman in TV licensing it's up to the magistrate. Tell the clerk of court you want him cited to appear, if he doesn’t turn up after being cited the magistrate will dismiss the case in all likelihood. If you don't ask them to cite him, they may well proceed and fine you anyway.

They may even drop it before it gets there. Note I am not a lawyer but I do do work in administration for a JP Court.

piglet74

Is this also the case for N Ireland?

I have never been in court before and in my head it is going to go something like this,

"On the 26th oct and for 3 months previous to this date, you had no tv licence....."

adouglasmhor

Yes, job titles may vary but it's the same. I have spent far too much time in courts in Northern Ireland.

Cornucopia

piglet74 wrote: »

The other forum mentioned above has warned of a bigger fine plus costs, which I am not prepared to risk (can't afford to should I add!)

No. It was this forum that gave you that unhelpful/incorrect advice.

The facts are these: if you plead Guilty *early* then you get a discount on the fine of up to 30%. IIUC it is discretionary (ie. the Magistrate on the day can decide not to award it). You may well have passed the date for the maximum discount, anyway.

Costs in the Magistrates court are limited. You will have to pay them if you plead guilty, or if you plead not guilty and lose.

A guy was recently given a conditional discharge for LF evasion based on an elaborate claim of Terrorist bias by the BBC in breach of the Terrorism act. Even with a complex case like that, his costs were still only £200. A typical guilty plea will attract costs of £60-75.

Cornucopia

HappyMJ wrote: »

No you are charged with watching TV broadcasts at the premises in question on the date in question.

Depends on what the charge says. Typically, they quote a range of dates even though the evidence is only proof for one date.

You only get a fine for that one time that they can prove that you were watching TV. They do not charge you multiple times nor take any other days into account.

They use the length of time unlicensed as a proxy for the length of evasion (presumably you could argue against this). There is also an increased fine in the guidelines, if the evasion went on for 6 months or more.

piglet74

Is guess this is why they don't send you the summons til 5months have passed?

I just got it on friday, but on the summons there had been a date for court for 12th feb, this had been crossed out and the 18th april had been written in, I am guessing its because they had been out at the door looking for me, even tho I said I was moving.

piglet74

There is only one date (26th oct) on the summons, but the 3months is on agents notes

Cornucopia

piglet74 wrote: »

Is guess this is why they don't send you the summons til 5months have passed?

No. We think they do that to make it more likely that you will have forgotten the fine detail of the "interview" and will plead guilty to get it over and done with.

I just got it on friday, but on the summons there had been a date for court for 12th feb, this had been crossed out and the 18th april had been written in, I am guessing its because they had been out at the door looking for me, even tho I said I was moving.

Yes - that might happen if they were unsure that the summons had been served in time.

Cornucopia

piglet74 wrote: »

There is only one date (26th oct) on the summons, but the 3months is on agents notes

The agents notes do not make the charge. If they have only charged you with the offence on that specific day, then you are not guilty from what you've told us.

piglet74

HappyMJ wrote: »

You may get a fine. It depends what you offer as mitigation. The offence happened on the 26th October last year and you did not have a television so there was no offence committed. TV licensing can withdraw the prosecution.

http://tv-licensing.blogspot.co.uk/2012/08/tv-licensing-threats-and-intimidation.html

Thank you very much for this

The fines are no-where near as high as I thought, so now I have another option,

Is it the Court your write to ask for the case to be withdrawn?

I am thinking of writing.. "Not guilty,... No tv on the date of the alledged offence... Can case be withdrawn.."

Is that ok? Again, is this an option in N Ireland? And lastly, can the court write back and say what about the other 3 months?? (Will they be aware of the other 3 months?)

Tia everyone.