TV Licence visit? What next

lisyloo

Meaning Tesco passed my information onto Capita, name, address and purchase details

They are obliged by law to do this.
Don't blame tescos, blame the law.

matthewking26

lisyloo wrote: »

They are obliged by law to do this.
Don't blame tescos, blame the law.

Can't I blame those sprouts we had last Thursday?
Sorry, didn't mean to sound bitter about Tesco, just the very fact that there is a law that makes retailers pass on your information to Capita/BBC is bizarre with the assumption that all TV purchases are made for yourself unless you prove otherwise by writing to them. It makes me weep with a bitterness seldom seen by those with sound minds.

adouglasmhor

matthewking26 wrote: »

Err...afraid not. You only need a licence if the TV receives signals. You could have 20 TVs in your house but if none of them are hooked up to an aerial then you don't need a licence. .

Some TV sets will pick up signals badly I admit even without an ariel, so that's enough to get you done for a license.


Originally Posted by adouglasmhor
You need a license if the TV is capable of receiving television - whether you use it or not!

If it was a set that would not pick up without an antena you would be fine. Nothing you have posted contradicts in any way what I posted so wind your neck in before your head falls off. I do not know where you get your info - but I can back up what I have posted, you seem to be making it up as you go along.

matthewking26

Most of my info comes from:
http://www.opsi.gov.uk/acts/acts1990/Ukpga_19900042_en_1.htm - broadcasting act 1990

http://www.tvlicensing.biz/telegraphy_act_1949/pdf/wtact1949.pdf - wireless telegraphy act 1949

http://www.opsi.gov.uk/si/si2001/20011057.htm - regulation of investigatory powers bbc order 2001

http://police.homeoffice.gov.uk/operational-policing/powers-pace-codes/pace-code-intro/ - pace act including updates

http://www.tvlicensing.biz/ - interesting site with lots of information about licencing and enforcement

and whatever pops into my head at the time of course.

"Nothing you have posted contradicts in any way what I posted so wind your neck in before your head falls off."

Then we can be friends yay! It can be like a buddy movie, whilst fighting crime we'll argue lots, like chalk and cheese, you do things by the book and are waiting to transfer to homicide, I'm a rookie with new fangled ideas and a bending the rules attitude but gradually we'll come to respect our differing positions on things and get on so well we'll be in a sequel.

nej

Here's a few extracts from a letter they sent to a flat that we let out. A flat that has been empty for about 6 months...

"You are hereby notified that we have authorised officers from our Enforcement Division to visit your home and interview you under caution..."
"Your statement will be taken in compliance with the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984..."

Talk about coming on strong!

I bought a new TV a few weeks ago and got the first demanding letter a couple of weeks ago because our license is in my wife's name. I'll just ignore it for now to see how amusing the letters get.

adouglasmhor

matthewking26 wrote: »

Most of my info comes from:
http://www.opsi.gov.uk/acts/acts1990/Ukpga_19900042_en_1.htm - broadcasting act 1990

http://www.tvlicensing.biz/telegraphy_act_1949/pdf/wtact1949.pdf - wireless telegraphy act 1949

http://www.opsi.gov.uk/si/si2001/20011057.htm - regulation of investigatory powers bbc order 2001

http://police.homeoffice.gov.uk/operational-policing/powers-pace-codes/pace-code-intro/ - pace act including updates

http://www.tvlicensing.biz/ - interesting site with lots of information about licencing and enforcement

and whatever pops into my head at the time of course.

"Nothing you have posted contradicts in any way what I posted so wind your neck in before your head falls off."

Then we can be friends yay! It can be like a buddy movie, whilst fighting crime we'll argue lots, like chalk and cheese, you do things by the book and are waiting to transfer to homicide, I'm a rookie with new fangled ideas and a bending the rules attitude but gradually we'll come to respect our differing positions on things and get on so well we'll be in a sequel.

I am sure that your links about BROADCASTING licenses are very interesting to you, but they are a bit irrelevant to the discusion. And I like most people find them pretty boring, did you google up some links without reading them?

matthewking26

adouglasmhor wrote: »

I am sure that your links about BROADCASTING licenses are very interesting to you, but they are a bit irrelevant to the discusion. And I like most people find them pretty boring, did you google up some links without reading them?

Yep, you got me bang to rights, that's exactly what I did.

I'll give you a few highlights though of the BROADCASTING licences (C not S, license with an S is a verb but anyway),

The RIP BBC order:
"Part. "Section 27A" provides for authorisations to be granted by persons holding certain positions within the BBC, if they are satisfied that the authorisation is necessary for preventing or detecting certain offences under section 1 or 1A of the Wireless Telegraphy Act 1949, or for assessing or collecting sums payable in respect of television licences.",

Broadcasting act section 180:Any apparatus which— (a) is connected to the telecommunication system by means of which a relevant cable service is provided, and
(b) is so connected for the purpose of enabling any person to receive any programmes included in that service by means of the reception and immediate re-transmission of programmes included in a television broadcasting service,
shall be deemed for the purposes of the 1949 Act to be apparatus for wireless telegraphy. (within the remit of requiring a licence), granted its a small section, but pretty relevant to dull people like me.




The Pace Act covers your rights and how interviews must be conducted by the wonderful enforcement officers.

https://www.tvlicensing.biz is well worth a read for the legal ground you stand on in relation to BBC/capita enforcement and licensing in general. And the humourous letters back and forth to the TV people

But I've never read anything so I wouldn't know that.

Wig

stugib wrote: »

http://www.tvlicensing.co.uk/gethelp/faqs.jsp#link1

You need to notify us in writing that this is the case and one of our Enforcement Officers may need to visit you to confirm that you do not need a licence.

That is TV licensing BS
It does NOT say that in the communications act.

Swan_2

every time this issue comes up I'm amazed at the amount of misinformation that's still going around ... some perpetrated by the TVLA themselves & more by people who are misinformed

my practical experience (don't know anyhting about acts etc) of a similar situation is that for a few years I used my telly only for gaming & DVDs, I disconnected the aerial & de-tuned the telly's receiver
I wrote to TVLA informing them of the situation, they wrote back saying that it was perfectly all right for me to be without a license, but that they might send someone round to check. anyway, they never did, which suited me fine

so the bottom line is, you definitely don't need a license if you're using your telly in the way I describe above

whether you let them in to have a look, is of course entirely up to you

NB ... if you have a VCR, PVR, DVD recorder etc, they need to be disconnected & de-tuned as well

Wig

Swan wrote: »

NB ... if you have a VCR, PVR, DVD recorder etc, they need to be disconnected & de-tuned as well

They don't need to be detuned, it is only the act of "using to recieve TV programs" that is illegal without a licence, The fact an appliance is capable.../tuned or detuned is irrelevant.

Having an analog aeriel plugged in is not going to put you in a good light in terms of circumstantial evidence, however as someone above said you could have a satellite connection and sky box and use it for radio aswell as dvds. Although to be honest I'm not sure if those radio stations on sky are classified as TV stations/TV programs or not..... I suspect not.