Comments on: TV Licensing Authority

By: Mike

Mike — Thu, 11 Oct 2012 19:51:36 +0000

Hi
No need to buy a licence: no TV = no licence required.

I have a scheme – bear with me…

I get letters from them & I send them UNSTAMPED back to the TVLA using the post code on the letter itself which is different to the ‘if undelivered, please return to…’. They pay excess postage, thereby cross-subsidising poor old Royal Mail who are not paid (common carrier rules) to deliver them! (UKMAIL gets the dosh for the easy task of collecting the envelopes). It must also cause grief at their Mail department.

I got legal advice: If an inspector calls and asks if a TV is in the household, they MUST get a reply of YES or NO. So NO in this case. They cannot be told to F*** O** because that is deemed threatening behaviour and can be quoted in court BUT you can quote a legal case which does the same ie “…so may I quote the reply given in the case of ARKELL vs PRESSDRAM?” This is in the form of “…in respect of your client’s demand for an apology, our client instructs us to inform you to F*** O***”. (See Wikipedia)

The case MUST be quoted first 😉

Have fun.

By: Dave

Dave — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 14:18:45 +0000

Its now 2011 and I can assure anyone that looks here that things haven’t changed. The letters are still rude and persistent and I’ve had one visit (while out so tough on them for wasting the shoeleather).
I’ve also checked a few things out – which didn’t surprise but did disappoint.
a) A few years back the not owning a tv licence was made a criminal offence
b) Being a criminal offence the harassment is legal – if you check the UK law on harassment its ok if you are preventing or solving a crime (basically to give the police carte blanch for anything they want to do).
c) They continued to harass my gran (well at least her address) after being told she was dead – guess they need to dig people up to believe they aren’t watching from in the grave.

I fully expect that they will continue their harassment right up until I move country (about 2 months now).

By: jason smythe

jason smythe — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 20:49:07 +0000

well they told me to starve my daughter to pay for the license

By: sweetlouis

sweetlouis — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 11:29:55 +0000

I would like to hear if anyone has ever had the police break in for ignoring them and not having a TV?

By: Colonel MOlerat

Colonel MOlerat — Tue, 06 May 2008 13:24:12 +0000

I have been harassed by the BBC (who have ‘TVLA’ as a trading name) both in my one year at university and at my current home.
I do not own a television and ignored all of their letters on principle – they were rude and bullying, an attitude that does NOT breed co-operation.
I finally phoned them up after receiving the infamous ‘interview under caution’ letter and found it very difficult to even tell them that I didn’t have a television – there was no option for it on their automated answer thingy, so I had to make an ‘other’ enquiry, under a submenu. When I finally convinced the person that I was not going to buy a TV license, as I DO NOT OWN A TELEVISION, they said that people would still visit me to check that I wasn’t lying – the exact same course of action as if I hadn’t replied to them.
Perhaps one benefit is that the letters seem to have stopped (I only received one more, which was more polite in its tone, but still threatened me with eternal damnation if I was trying to trick them) – that was about three months ago. I really hope I don’t get any more letters…
I still haven’t been visited, either.
Ironically, I know people who don’t own a television license, but watch telelvision anyway – and they just ignore the letters, with no ill effects. One even had the authorities visit, but just said they were busy, so were left alone!
I do not mind the notion of a TV license to fund an impartial, advert-free broadcaster, but object strongly to the strong-arm tactics and guilty-until-proven attitude of the TVLA. As for why the BBC can’t use another tactic, such as subscription, pay-per-hour or the like, that is beyond me.

By: gabriella

gabriella — Fri, 28 Sep 2007 17:34:49 +0000

I have not had a TV in years and to be quite honest I am sick of the nasty letters they keep sending me...Please how many times do I have to let them in and sign a declaration!!!

Today I phoned them up and told them that it was a total breach of my rights.. That I would not be signing any more declarations and would not be letting anyone in my house.... I boldy asked what would happen if I ignore all the letters out of principal? would the police come and break in my house? Do you know what she replied??? "I dont Know" like they dont know their own policy... more like " Actually there is nothing we can do , but we try to scare everyone as much as we can"

I work hard, pay all my bills and wouldnt have a TV if it was free! I would like to hear if anyone has ever had the police break in for ignoring them and not having a TV?

By: Kate Hurst

Kate Hurst — Mon, 14 May 2007 19:49:09 +0000

I too have been having to put up with these persistent reminders for the whole of the three years I have been at university. Want to know why? There are five bedrooms in our flat but according to the TV License people there are six addresses (the sixth is the kitchen, corridor and cupboard containing mop, bucket, hoover etc).

So because technically nobody lives at this sixth address, we don't have a licence for it. Whenever I have attempted to phone the license people, I get put on hold and then my mobile cuts off. I am sick and tired of being hounded by these letters because nobody else in my flat could care less and so I worry too much to compensate. This is the only reason I can't wait to leave university. I wrote to them to explain this and never received a reply.

By: Alan

Alan — Thu, 28 Dec 2006 19:35:07 +0000

Also.. TVL are setting COOKIES when you visit certain websites.

The COOKIE shows up as.. reporting.tvlicensing.co.uk

After what I have seen regarding TVL's conduct I would STRONGLY advise anyone to BLOCK cookies from them.

By: Alan

Alan — Thu, 28 Dec 2006 17:02:13 +0000

How about… “people in the UK have to pay the TV Licensing Authority if they want to own a television If they want to receive broadcast signals! i.e. BBC. ITV. Sky etc”.

I intend to put my full story on how I progress with TVL on one of my websites http://www.allhitradio.co.uk I must say from what I have seen on this and other sites I am expecting a very hard time from them. They just don’t seem to grasp that people are getting fed up with the rubbish on TV these days. And repeats too!! Like The Two Ronnies, Hey TVL I paid for that from my licence fee in the 1970’s

By: Denyerec

Denyerec — Thu, 28 Dec 2006 16:00:44 +0000

Quite right! I’m not sure if I should update it to read “If they want to own a television to receive broadcast signals” or “If they want to avoid undue suspicion and baseless accusation on behalf of the TVLA…”

What do you think?