TV licensing...

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simonineaston
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TV licensing...

Post by simonineaston »

After quite period of some years Capita have resumed sending letters to my house. I genuinely do not need a license, and if I needed to, I would simply buy one.
My question is: Has anyone any experience of being visited by a representative of either Capita or the BBC?
S
(on the look out for Armageddon, on board a Brompton nano & ever-changing Moultons)
kwackers
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Re: TV licensing...

Post by kwackers »

Cue Mick...
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Mick F
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Re: TV licensing...

Post by Mick F »

Hi guys!

We've not had a TVL for a few years now, and each year - is it it two years? - we get a letter from the TVL Authority and we are asked to complete a declaration. The option is there to do it on line, so I do that. We get an email confirmation in return.

That's all. :D
Mick F. Cornwall
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simonineaston
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Re: TV licensing...

Post by simonineaston »

I am interested in the type of person carrying out the visits and their standard of behaviour.
S
(on the look out for Armageddon, on board a Brompton nano & ever-changing Moultons)
cjchambers
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Re: TV licensing...

Post by cjchambers »

I once sent a letter with one line . . .

"I do not operate television receiving equipment at this address"

. . and then the letters stopped.
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Mick F
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Re: TV licensing...

Post by Mick F »

simonineaston wrote:I am interested in the type of person carrying out the visits and their standard of behaviour.
I'd be interested too, but as of now we have never had a visit.

If we did get a visit, he/she would get short shrift and be sent on their way. They have no rights whatsoever to enter your property or ask anything of you.

Tell them to bog off and come back with a policeman ....... in uniform.
Even then, I'd tell them to bog off and get a search warrant.
Mick F. Cornwall
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fossala
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Re: TV licensing...

Post by fossala »

I don't have a TV licence, haven't for many years as I don't get any enjoyment from it. I once told them many years ago I no longer needed a TV licence but also told them that I wasn't going to "check in" every 2 years. Since then the letters have got worse. I get a letter every month telling me they are taking me to court and if found guilty blah blah blah.

If they even tried to take me to court it would be stupid as they couldn't have any proof to me or my family watching live TV.

I'll update if anything ever happens.

Remember, your not guilty for not buying their product. Would the same thing happen if you stopped shopping at ASDA or M&S?
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Mick F
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Re: TV licensing...

Post by Mick F »

I wonder why you are treated like that, but we are left alone?
Is it that eventually they will get nasty with us?
It's only been a few years so far.

Last bought one in June 2011, but we'd had a trial with no telly for a year or so before that. A year later - 2012 when it expired - we gave up completely and no doubt never to bother again. Having not had a telly for a while, we thought we'd give it another go, but it was awful, and a waste of £145.50. No doubt the price has gone up since 2011.

They wrote to us pre 2011 and again post 2012, but no contact other than letters asking us for a declaration.
Mick F. Cornwall
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fossala
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Re: TV licensing...

Post by fossala »

Mick F wrote:I wonder why you are treated like that, but we are left alone?
Is it that eventually they will get nasty with us?
It's only been a few years so far.

When I rang them they said I had to do so every 2 years. This isn't acceptable in my view as it's only a product I choose not to buy. It started after the 2 years where up. Next letter I get through I'll scan and post, it's quite aggressive.
TonyR
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Re: TV licensing...

Post by TonyR »

After years and years of letters I wrote to both TVL and the BBC saying that what they were doing amounted to harassment under the Harassment Act if they had no evidence, that if they had evidence of my using a TV without a license then they should take me to Court otherwise they should cease harassing me and that I was withdrawing their implied right of access (which means they are not even allowed on my land to knock on the door or look through the windows). After that the letters stopped and not resumed for four years now.
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mjr
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Re: TV licensing...

Post by mjr »

I was getting monthly letters like fossala until I harangued TVL Capita on Twitter. That fixed what several phone calls and letters didn't. It was about a year I think. I can scan the full set of letters: they repeat after a while. No one ever visited. Capita are a waste of money which should go to the BBC.

Daftest thing was that we had a TV licence, although the main must- watch channel is German Eurosport for the cycling ;-)
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Mick F
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Re: TV licensing...

Post by Mick F »

If they came in and searched the property, they would find no TV receiving equipment, but they would find a raft of computers and a fast WiFi broadband system.

This is the loophole they need to plug if the TVL is to continue in its present form.

You need a TVL if you watch live TV. It matters not if it's on line or by satellite dish or terrestrial aerial. It matters not if it's on a conventional telly or a computer or on a phone so tablet. You are still watching live TV.

TV detector vans have been consigned to history since the demise of the local oscillator and line transformers producing EHT of 15,000 volts, so they have resorted to letters and/or threats.
Mick F. Cornwall
TonyR
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Re: TV licensing...

Post by TonyR »

Mick F wrote:You need a TVL if you watch live TV. It matters not if it's on line or by satellite dish or terrestrial aerial. It matters not if it's on a conventional telly or a computer or on a phone so tablet. You are still watching live TV.


Incorrect. If the device - laptop, phone, tablet, TV - is powered by internal batteries you don't need a TV License to watch live TV on it by internet or aerial.
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Mick F
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Re: TV licensing...

Post by Mick F »

Mick F. Cornwall
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gaz
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Re: TV licensing...

Post by gaz »

The legal background for TV licensing and it's enforcement can be found in the Commuications Act 2003, Part 4.
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