Really Worried - The TV Licence - Unnecessary Trial

Cornucopia

Indeed, and if pushed, they will claim that "it's the law" to fill in the 178 form, and sign it. It's very hard to resist that kind of skulduggery unless you know 100% that it's wrong.

Silk

Cornucopia wrote: »

Please do raise it with your MP. I want MPs across the country to be completely and utterly sick of TVL by the time the BBC Charter comes up for renewal. TBH, I think that's the only way there will be change.

Interestingly Katy Clark MP tabled a question last month, you can read it and the fob off here ..
http://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-question/Commons/2015-01-09/220311/


There's also an excellent BlogSpot here with lots of information and good advice here ..
http://tv-licensing.blogspot.co.uk/

Marktheshark

Not_Another_Username wrote: »

I know what you are saying Mark, and thank you for the insinuation that we are fools, but the TV licence is generally thought of as being THE LAW and hardly your run of the mill door to door scam. Capita are clearly exploiting this.

Well if we are to go down that route, the proof of the pudding will be at court.
Yes it was most foolish to sign the form and this will be brought to fruit at court.
I also told you to find the licence from the old address and see if the dates matched with it been valid on the day the tvl 178 was signed , but that went in one ear and out of the other I think.

Cornucopia

Silk wrote: »

Interestingly Katy Clark MP tabled a question last month, you can read it and the fob off here ..
http://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-question/Commons/2015-01-09/220311/

Thanks.

You can see again, there, the Minister's complete cop-out.

One problem is that the issues with TVL are so extensive that trying to cover them all makes you sound like a tinfoil-hatter.

Not_Another_Username

You seem very angry Mark?

onomatopoeia99

Cornucopia wrote: »

Thankfully, there are no other organisations quite as out of control as TV Licensing.

I take it you've never had the pleasure of dealing with Swansea (the DVLA) then?

Cornucopia

onomatopoeia99 wrote: »

I take it you've never had the pleasure of dealing with Swansea (the DVLA) then?

No, not had any problems with them.

However, I recognise them as actually being a Government agency, unlike TVL, who just pretend.

As such, I presume they would ultimately be answerable to the Department of Transport... again, unlike TVL.

I don't really want to get in to who's (Q)QANGO is worse. It's a scandal when any of them behave unfairly, unlawfully and/or incompetently.



DVLA = QANGO (Quasi-autonomous national Government organisation)

TVL = Quasi QANGO

(I should explain that whilst we refer to "TVL" for convenience, it is not an official organisation, in fact it is not an organisation at all. It's just a trademark of the BBC, staffed using an outsourcing contract mainly with Capita).

Cornucopia

Not_Another_Username wrote: »

You seem very angry Mark?

I can't speak for Mark, but I feel quite angry about the situation (not just your experiences), too.

The way we (legally licence free people) react to others who get caught or get stitched-up by TVL, is complicated.

We know that if people took the care to become familiar with their rights, or even if a proportion of defendants simply took the time to make their Guilty plea in Court, the entire system would collapse.

In fact it's worse than that. Judging by the Minister's feeble response, that might well be the ONLY way to achieve change.

Not_Another_Username

Well maybe Mark is correct about the apparent lethargy on our part. I too believe that my wife's situation would benefit considerably by having some extra weight behind her, be it a solicitor, the CAB, etc. But she wants to go this alone and I must stand by her decision. She feels so angered by the situation that she wants to deal with this in court herself. I don't think that's the best idea but I already feel largely responsible for this mess as it was I who suggested we took the On Demand path in the first place due to her On Demand viewing habits anyway. I personally don't care much for TV and would rather not have one at all.

At the end of the proverbial day, we all have our opinions on this and they will differ, but I am extremely grateful for all advice and opinions expressed above and I do feel I have learnt quite a lot from this. No system is ever completely fair to all people but the TVL system is legalised extortion no matter how you look at it.

Marktheshark

The situation would benefit largely from finding out if the licence at your old address was valid on the day they shoved the form under her nose.
The reason is she would be not guilty.
Wanting it over and done will result in a criminal conviction that has to be declared, it is far from the easy option.
Getting found not guilty because you forgot to change the address is a far easier option.
The offence is receiving television without a licence.
The clue is in the name, if you had a licence the address on it is not relevant to the offence, as long as you have a licence.