TV License - Is it harder to avoid paying?

[kalniel]

Yes, but by unplugging the aerial and de-tuning the TV you no longer have a 'TV that's installed to recieve television services', so you don't need to pay the licence fee, and can play DVDs/console games perfectly fine.

That's exactly what I said

[darkbob]

I think it's pretty depressing how threatening they are - we didn't even own at TV, yet were constantly warned about how illegal we were and the fines hanging over our head...

[Mike Fishcake]

My sister's flatmate had the TV licensing people scare the crap out of her a year or so ago... she's in her early 20s and was walking back to her flat in the evening on her own, my sis was out somewhere. It was dark and there was a van outside her block.

As she was walking in, this bloke got out of the van and started following her. Needless to say she shifted it pretty quickly but the guy upped his pace. She got into the flat, shut the door and the guy spent the next few minutes banging on the door and repeatedly ringing the doorbell. After a while he did actually leave and she spent the rest of the night absolutely crapping herself.

I can't remember how she actually found out (I think the TV license people contacted her a few days later and mentioned that someone had called round and been 'ignored'), but after she told her dad, I think it's fairly safe to say he went absolutely ballistically ape-sheet at them.

And what makes it even worse? They'd had a TV license from the day they moved in.

[Butuz]

I been paying for a licence for the last year and three months - on direct debit even - and they still send me threatening letters ocasionally!!! Useless bunch of c*/**

Butuz

[badass]

My sister's flatmate had the TV licensing people scare the crap out of her a year or so ago... she's in her early 20s and was walking back to her flat in the evening on her own, my sis was out somewhere. It was dark and there was a van outside her block.

As she was walking in, this bloke got out of the van and started following her. Needless to say she shifted it pretty quickly but the guy upped his pace. She got into the flat, shut the door and the guy spent the next few minutes banging on the door and repeatedly ringing the doorbell. After a while he did actually leave and she spent the rest of the night absolutely crapping herself.

I can't remember how she actually found out (I think the TV license people contacted her a few days later and mentioned that someone had called round and been 'ignored'), but after she told her dad, I think it's fairly safe to say he went absolutely ballistically ape-sheet at them.

And what makes it even worse? They'd had a TV license from the day they moved in.

Make sure that if anything even 1/10th as bad as that happens to her in the future, she calls the police sharpish! Next time it might not be TV licensing, and if it is, the idiots responsible will have a most uncomfortable time explaining themselves.

[chicken]

I lost all respect for the TV Licencing people back at uni when a guy came to our door asking about a TV licence, we had a nice polite conversation telling him yes we did have TVs, tuned in, and a licence to go along with them.

For some reason despite this he wanted to see, so we let him in, thinking "we've got a licence so it's fine" and he turned into a complete arse the second he was over the threshold, nosing around everywhere, even places you couldn't fit a TV if you tried. Despite having admissions we had TVs and our willingness to show him them he turned into a rude, obnoxious four-letter-word, which was completely unnecessary, especially as we did indeed have a licence so he had no reason to be there in the first place.

I think badass has it right there, they can't be allowed to get away with that kind of behaviour, I wouldn't care if it was the TV Licencing people, in a way that's almost worse as you'd hope someone with authority would be professional about things. A man hanging around in a van in the dark chasing young, lone women should be reported whoever it is.

[kalniel]

Had a nice chap when I was in York without a TV. He turned up, asked if we had a TV, we said no and he was welcome to come in and have a look. He said that's ok - anyone who is willing to let me have a look is telling the truth. Didn't hear from them again.

[usxhe190]

I think badass has it right there, they can't be allowed to get away with that kind of behaviour, I wouldn't care if it was the TV Licencing people, in a way that's almost worse as you'd hope someone with authority would be professional about things. A man hanging around in a van in the dark chasing young, lone women should be reported whoever it is.

That is the perception that they want to give - i.e. that they have Authority. They do this by using police language (e.g. PACE, caution, right to question, etc) in their letters.

They don't none of those powers. They are just like salemens knocking on your door. You have the right not to let them in.

[hitman67]

Could you get round it by having a TV, but instead of the ariel have either Sky or Freeview tuned in via a seperate box? Therefore it's not the TV itself that's connected. Especially as SKY doesn't use the standard ariel and information network?

[Lucio]

Could you get round it by having a TV, but instead of the ariel have either Sky or Freeview tuned in via a seperate box? Therefore it's not the TV itself that's connected. Especially as SKY doesn't use the standard ariel and information network?

No, because you would be capable of recieving the normal terrestrial channels (specifically BBC1 and BBC2).

[usxhe190]

For some reason despite this he wanted to see, so we let him in, thinking "we've got a licence so it's fine" and he turned into a complete arse the second he was over the threshold, nosing around everywhere, even places you couldn't fit a TV if you tried. Despite having admissions we had TVs and our willingness to show him them he turned into a rude, obnoxious four-letter-word, which was completely unnecessary, especially as we did indeed have a licence so he had no reason to be there in the first place.

It's because they are paid based on how many people they "catch"...

[Saracen]

My sister's flatmate had the TV licensing people scare the crap out of her a year or so ago... she's in her early 20s and was walking back to her flat in the evening on her own, my sis was out somewhere. It was dark and there was a van outside her block.

As she was walking in, this bloke got out of the van and started following her. Needless to say she shifted it pretty quickly but the guy upped his pace. She got into the flat, shut the door and the guy spent the next few minutes banging on the door and repeatedly ringing the doorbell. After a while he did actually leave and she spent the rest of the night absolutely crapping herself.

I can't remember how she actually found out (I think the TV license people contacted her a few days later and mentioned that someone had called round and been 'ignored'), but after she told her dad, I think it's fairly safe to say he went absolutely ballistically ape-sheet at them.

And what makes it even worse? They'd had a TV license from the day they moved in.

My reaction would have been much as your Dad's was. That's not only utterly unacceptable behaviour, but mind-numbingly stupid too. I hope the complaints were formal, written ones. And I'd have wanted an explanation from TV licencing, too.

....

For some reason despite this he wanted to see, so we let him in, thinking "we've got a licence so it's fine" and he turned into a complete arse the second he was over the threshold, nosing around everywhere, even places you couldn't fit a TV if you tried. .....

And that is unacceptable too. Even with a search warrant, that is unacceptable, because the warrant not only grants the court's authority to search, but it defines what they can search for and the limits of that authority. It isn't, for example, carte blanche to go searching through someone's knicker draw or CD collection. It's to collect evidence to support a prosecution for TV licence evasion, and that's all. Again, a complaint was in order.

Personally, no TV Licensing officer is coming in my house without a warrant. Period. But, I do and always have had an up-to-date licence.

Some of the stories in this thread illustrate gross abuses by the system (or rather, those running it) but ..... whether we like it or not, it's the law and if you use (with the obvious exceptions) a TV (i.e. as a TV, not just as a monitor) then you need a licence. And a lot of people will try to ignore that and get away with it. Let's face it, if everybody was honest and paid their licence if they need one, there's be no need for inspectors, detector vans, search warrants, wasted court time or fines. But a lot of people that do pay their licence only pay it because of the consequences if they don't.

But a lot of people don't follow the rules. And because of that, TV Licencing have a job to do. And while they certainly are over-officious at times, look at it from their perspective. They can't just take people's word for it that you don't have a TV, because those that are trying to avoid paying their licence say that. They can't just accept that an address that doesn't have a TV now won't have one next week, next month or next year, partly because people buy TVs (and lie about their address when doing so), and partly because people move house. So they aren't going to just accept "I don't have a TV", and they are going to periodically check up even where they have accepted that that is actually the case.

I'm certainly not defending all their habits or practices, and the examples I quoted above are simply outrageous. But, nonetheless, they have a job to do in the face of people that won't pay what they should be paying, so those that don't have a TV and still get pestered about their licence perhaps ought to be more annoyed at the licence dodgers than at TV Licencing, who have to cope with the fact that a large number of people won't pay their dues, and will lie through their teeth about it.


In my opinion, the whole Licence system needs to be looked at. And probably scrapped.

Yes, there should be a basic TV provision, and that might well amount to the current level of BBC services, and the implication of that is something broadly equivalent to the current level of BBC costs. But TV usage (and bear in mind, the licence is a licence to receive almost any TV broadcasts, not just to receive BBC) and that is a practice that is SO widely adopted among the population, perhaps we ought to just fund it via general taxation, and save the cost of TV Licencing system altogether. No more obnoxious letters, no more detector vans or inspectors knocking on doors, no more expensive system to pay for. After all, our beloved leader can find £2.7 billion to extract his nuts from the political fire over his own 10p band screw-up, so why not fund the BBC that way. He's obviously got a large pile of our cash hidden away somewhere.

[usxhe190]

I'm certainly not defending all their habits or practices, and the examples I quoted above are simply outrageous. But, nonetheless, they have a job to do in the face of people that won't pay what they should be paying, so those that don't have a TV and still get pestered about their licence perhaps ought to be more annoyed at the licence dodgers than at TV Licencing, who have to cope with the fact that a large number of people won't pay their dues, and will lie through their teeth about it.

TVL does have a non-intrusive way - their tv detection vans and handeld equipment. They have advertised this and answered under FOI. So the only reason why they are doing what they are doing now is because they were to create the myth of fear on people who are ignorant of their powers.

[Saracen]

Detector vans and/or handheld units are only one tool in their arsenal, and a relatively expensive one. And it's only part of the information-gathering process. On their own, they aren't adequate.