requesting a cancelation of my tv licence

Giraffe76

Hi all,


Ive seen a you tube video stating i can go on the tv licensing website and request i be exempted from having a tv licence for 2 years(which im thinking of doing) as im very rarely at the property where the license is for and when i am there i dont watch tv.



The gentlemen then states that they send someone out to you (understandably so) but when their inspector arrives you answer the door and politely say no thank you and close the door... surely the better thing would be to let the inspector in and show them that you dont have anything to watch live tv with (freeview or sky box etc) or am i wrong and would they take me to court?



I hope this makes sense and any help or advice would be appreciated


Kind regards Mark

Cornucopia

Giraffe76 wrote: »

Hi all,


Ive seen a you tube video stating i can go on the tv licensing website and request i be exempted from having a tv licence for 2 years(which im thinking of doing) as im very rarely at the property where the license is for and when i am there i dont watch tv.

Yes. The 2 years is made up by the BBC, but if you are happy with it, then fair enough.

The gentlemen then states that they send someone out to you (understandably so) but when their inspector arrives you answer the door and politely say no thank you and close the door... surely the better thing would be to let the inspector in and show them that you dont have anything to watch live tv with (freeview or sky box etc) or am i wrong and would they take me to court?

It's complicated. By far the easiest thing to do is have no contact with them. If you are not always at the property in question, then it becomes less likely that you will meet them, anyway.

If you have literally no equipment capable of receiving TV (so, no TV, no PC, no phone), then you might consider letting them in to see that. However, if you have any of those devices, even if you never use them to watch TV, you can expect that they will at least try to argue the case with you, which can be unpleasant. In the worst case, they will insist that "you need a Licence for that" (whatever "that" is) and begin the process of prosecution.

Their employer pays them a bonus if they can get some kind of "result" from their attendance at your address, so they are not necessarily going to be impartial.

House_Martin

Yes Mark I agree that is the best option. Simply allow any Capita officer in for a minute or two to verify what you say. Because you have allowed him access then straightaway he/she will be inclined to believe you.
I would compare the refusers to admit an officer to access their TV equipment to someone in police custody arrested and interviewed who only answers "no comment " to every question..Guilty as hell IMO !
Capita employees have to have around 28 a week signed up for a TV licence before they hit a bonus and its not at all a"lucrative ".bonus.
Given the aggression and threats they receive from disgruntled licence dodgers or legally licence free claimants every year they deserve every penny they earn. They are not at all highly paid
.One in seven Capita officers, there are only around 360 in the UK, can expect to be assaulted every year going about their lawful employment on behalf of the BBC.
I personally only hand deliver TV licence reminders occasionally on behalf of Capita for MDS and I am now getting aggression at the doorstep as can be seen on various Youtube clips.I have also been assaulted and manhandled . We are now known at MDS as "Goons " on various websites and are now lumped together with Capita for aggressive behaviour from the licence dodgers or legally licence free "claimants "

Tom99

[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]Cancel online, they say they might visit you but probably will not, so worry about that when it happens.[/FONT]

Cornucopia

House_Martin wrote: »

Yes Mark I agree that is the best option. Simply allow any Capita officer in for a minute or two to verify what you say. Because you have allowed him access then straightaway he/she will be inclined to believe you.

Somehow, out of all this, we need to have a set of factual information to be able to inform MSEers about how TV Licensing works in practice, if they do not know. It's pointless and unhelpful to go around these points again and again every time the questions arise.

That task is made more complicated by the fact that the information provided by BBC-TV Licensing is incomplete and misleading in places.

To that end, though:-

- I am not opposed to people making up their own mind about whether to let TVL/Capita into their homes or not (though I would advise them not to). I think the forum should aim to give them enough impartial information to allow them to make that decision.

- There is no legal requirement to grant TVL/Capita access to one's home, other than in the case of the extremely rare TVL warrant.

- There is no legal requirement to prove one's innocence to TVL, despite the statements they make that imply otherwise.

- There is no real advantage to allowing them access, and in the worst case scenario you may end up being prosecuted (either because of a genuine misunderstanding of the rules, because you said the wrong thing or it was misinterpreted as an indication of guilt, because of ambiguity in the interview process or because of the actions of a rogue member of staff).

- You do, however, have an absolute right to decline to be interviewed under caution and to obtain legal advice. Unfortunately, some TVL staff will gloss over or deny that. So, unless you are intent on signing a confession statement it's probably best not to admit them in the first place.

- I've seen a number of cases now, where it's fairly obvious that the TVL staff do not understand the technologies well enough to properly distinguish legal and illegal conduct. It's pretty pointless having a discussion with them on that basis.

- There have been rogue staff within TVL for as long as I can remember (at least 8 years or so). The BBC and Capita management seem to be unwilling or unable to do anything decisive about the issue.

I would compare the refusers to admit an officer to access their TV equipment to someone in police custody arrested and interviewed who only answers "no comment " to every question..Guilty as hell IMO !

The difference being that someone who has been arrested is suspected of an offence, whereas someone who has a doorstepping visit by TVL is innocent until proven guilty.

Capita employees have to have around 28 a week signed up for a TV licence before they hit a bonus and its not at all a"lucrative ".bonus.

I didn't say it was "lucrative", so I'm not sure why you've placed the word in quotes. The mere fact of people being financially incentised for law enforcement activities is, IMHO, wrong. It's been proven wrong in other deregulated law enforcement activity and it probably needs to be made illegal.

Given the aggression...

There is a simple answer to any member of staff who fears aggression on the doorstep... don't be on people's doorsteps in legally questionable circumstances. TVL staff have been shown to be committing routine harassment offences and the civil tort of trespass. In the latter case, a householder may lawfully use reasonable force to remove them. So, whilst I'm opposed to all violence, I wouldn't include lawful use of force within that.

welshbookworm

I haven't had a TV license for several years now and apart from filling in a form every two years, I have had no problems.
No callers (rude or otherwise), no nasty letters,no problems.

House_Martin

welshbookworm wrote: »

I haven't had a TV license for several years now and apart from filling in a form every two years, I have had no problems.
No callers (rude or otherwise), no nasty letters,no problems.

Do you live in a difficult to get to property down a muddy lane ?, do you have a big nasty looking dog hanging around the garden ? Do you have an electric front gate with no bell or is your front gate always locked ?
And the ones which trip up us meter readers the most,,Do you have a house name but the house name is nt clearly on show ?
Do you live on a Gypsy site ? Capita NEVER visit Gypsy or Traveller sites
All these reasons will thwart the average Capita "officer " trying to get through his daily quota.
You are overdue for a visit and will be "under investigation " !!!!!

Cornucopia

House_Martin wrote: »

You are overdue for a visit and will be "under investigation " !!!!!

Please don't try to antagonise other FMs.

welshbookworm

House_Martin wrote: »

Do you live in a difficult to get to property down a muddy lane ?, do you have a big nasty looking dog hanging around the garden ? Do you have an electric front gate with no bell or is your front gate always locked ?
And the ones which trip up us meter readers the most,,Do you have a house name but the house name is nt clearly on show ?
Do you live on a Gypsy site ? Capita NEVER visit Gypsy or Traveller sites
All these reasons will thwart the average Capita "officer " trying to get through his daily quota.
You are overdue for a visit and will be "under investigation " !!!!!

No, I live in a very ordinary block of flats with open access and the only door is my front door.
I have my gas and electric meters read every 3 months by very nice gentlemen from MDS with photo ID and uniform.
The last one to call found out I was stuck indoors with a bad back and I'd run out of cigarettes, gave me some of his to keep me going.
I do not watch TV. My TV is not capable of receiving a signal. I am quite happy for MDS? Capita to send someone round to check and if they have few spare ciggies and I've run out they will be even more welcome

House_Martin

welshbookworm wrote: »

No, I live in a very ordinary block of flats with open access and the only door is my front door.
I have my gas and electric meters read every 3 months by very nice gentlemen from MDS with photo ID and uniform.
The last one to call found out I was stuck indoors with a bad back and I'd run out of cigarettes, gave me some of his to keep me going.
I do not watch TV. My TV is not capable of receiving a signal. I am quite happy for MDS? Capita to send someone round to check and if they have few spare ciggies and I've run out they will be even more welcome

Well you have escaped the system somehow. If you do happen to get a TV licence reminder , rip it up and do not be scared by it. "under investigation " is usually the second scare tactic they use . I am also a very nice man from MDS with my I.D. and I have to post TV licence reminders sometimes
.For this I am being demonised on here and suggested by Cornucopia that not only should I NOT place myself on your doorstep and face assault but I am committing civil "tort " ( he thinks he s a lawyer ) of trespass.
For the past few years its is his hobby to work out how to write legalise guff to try and talk down to anyone who dares to suggest he s wrong or even question his motives.He s supposed to be impartial but hes any thing but

welshbookworm

I have not 'escaped the system'. I do not use their services and therefore do not have to pay their license fee.
If I did get into trouble over something like this I would risk losing my job (which I thoroughly enjoy) which would upset me .