"Dear Owner/Occupier,

THIS ADDRESS IS UNLICENSED

YOUR DETAILS ARE BEING PASSED TO OUR ENFORCEMENT OFFICERS

Despite the fact that we have sent you a previous reminder, there is still no TV licence registered at this address. It may be that you have just moved in, in which case you should contact us to transfer a licence or buy a new one.

I have passed your address to our Enforcement Officers who will be visiting your area soon. Therefore please be aware of the following:

- Our officers may call at your home any time during the day, in the evening or at the weekend
- They are authorised to use sophisticated detector equipment on unlicensed households
- Every day we catch around 1,000 evaders - you could be next

Our officers are scheduled to call on you shortly - however there is still time to avoid a visit if you buy or transfer your licence immediately. Call 0844 800 6710.

If you have recently bought a TV Licence you needn't respond to this letter."


Lovely. And what if I don't have a television, dumb fooks?
After their first letter I thought I'd call that number to appease them - and I got put in a fookin queue.
Well I have better things to do with my life than hang on waiting for some TV licensing arsehole so I hung up and said fook 'em.

They obviously can't do anything to me 'cos I simply don't have a set and never will. So let 'em come. But I resent the tone of this letter and would like to royally piss them off.

Any suggestions? Either for replying to this letter or the attitude to take when they come?

I'd get an old T.V from a second hand shop/rubbish tip for next to nothing. Then I would take it home and gut it just leaving the carcass. I would then place the empty box in my front room and wait.

I would then laugh my chebs off at the look of disappointment when I explained that it was just an ornament.

No need to get angry with them.

When they come round, ask them in, give them a cup of tea and a biscuit and politely explain that you haven't got a tv, therefore you don't need a licence.

Easy. You'll be ok.

Just a standard letter, why get so uptight? As for being in a queue, it's a way of life I'm afraid. Wait till they come, show you don't have one, end of ....

Classic case of a system going into action. The letter will have been automatically generated after a check on the electoral list and has been carefully written to be as intimidating as possible and though it's caused you a load of grief there isn't a corresponding person at the other end intent on personally getting at you.

If anyone does come round it'll be someone who is totally used to enforcement and will be someone like a retired policeman who has heard every story in the book and dealt with every situation.... and some more. I can only suggest that you put them to maximum inconvenience to them but make sure it's the minimum for yourself.

They will want to acces your property to check for a television receiving device e.g. if you use a digibox for receiving digital radio you still need a TV licence even though you're not looking at the pictures. I can only suggest you use the system by checking identity, authority to enter you're house, make them fix a proper appointment...maybe in the evening or some other out of hours time.

Pity is that the person they send round to check is being paid 'to do their job' whilst you're having to put up with them for free.

Ask them for a warrant as well to see if they can produce something to forcibly enter your property

Welcome back to the UK

Sounds like a few people on here have become institutionalised. Well I'm a rebel by nature and refuse to join that club.

Snowy, what makes me uptight is the way they put the onus on me when it's not my problem. On the back of the letter they eventually admit to the possibility of my not having TV, in which case all I have to do is send them a letter saying so or else use their Web site. When you do go to the Web they say ring that number, the one with the queue.

In other words "Please drag your arse round to the post office to keep our faces straight or else wait in a phone queue for something you haven't even asked for." No fookin' way.
Anyway, they go on to say that if I do so notify them they'll send someone to check it's true, so what's the point?

Is it too much to ask for them simply to put a tick box on the Web site saying "please tick this box if you do not have TV receiving equipment"? And to write polite letters?

Anyway, enough time wasted on these wasters.

Post some shite to them in an envelope.

And some talcum powder and garlic salt after that.

Then send them a parcel with an alarm clock in it.

And if they turn up to your house block their car in and feed them loads of cups of tea but refuse to let them use the bog.

Then twat 'em.

Surely they don't have authority to barge IN to your house, tho, do they? The letter says they have authority to call AT your house but that's a different matter. Just don't answer the door, Richard, and pull faces at them from the window

The only people who have the authority to enter your house without a warrant is Customs and Excise and even then only under strict conditions.

Not that they will mind you.

You could have some fun with this. Write back and tell them that you refuse to pay for a television licence as you don't believe you should have to pay. Don't give them a reason though.

I think that TV licence have right of entry.

As I believe has now been given to council busybodies who want to try and revalue your house for council tax.

Whether this means right of entry unannounced or whether they have to make an appointment I'm not sure though.

I've been angered by that letter many a time. It's a standard letter they issue when you buy a new telly as well.

My other half bought a tv licence before I moved in with her, so it's in her name, she transferred it to our new house when we moved in four years ago. I bought a new telly on the credit card, I get THE letter. I bought the same telly for her dad, he thought it was a bargain, I get ANOTHER letter. I buy a new flat screen to go upstairs for the Wii, I get ANOTHER BLOODY letter.

I've had three of them in the last couple of years. There's no way I'm taking the time to write back to them or sit waiting on the phone when surely a simple check at their end will see that the address they are sending these letters to already has a tv licence registered to it.

So I put the letters straight in the bin and they've never arrived at the doorstep.

Muppetts.

Ignore them Richard,its their problem,not yours.

If the TV licence people have right of entry, then I would say things are really serious. You have a legal duty to pay council tax and therefore you must allow officials to assess what you're liable for.
On the other hand, if a private company can have legal access where would it end?

While TV Licensing has a statutory obligation to ensure that every address where a television licence is required is correctly licensed, its agents have no special rights and, like any other member of the public, rely on an implied right of access to reach the front door. The occupants of a visited property may deny an agent entry to the premises without cause and are under no obligation to answer any questions or enter into any conversation. If an agent has evidence that television is being watched or recorded illegally but is denied entry by the occupants so that (s)he cannot verify the suspicion without trespassing, then TV Licensing may apply to a magistrate for a search warrant, but the use of such warrants is rare. The BBC states that a search warrant would never be applied for solely on the basis of non-cooperation with TV Licensing.




Not 100% sure on that one but I'd be shocked if it were true.

I used to get these letters all the time as a student and it really used to fvck me off. Why didn't they just accept I had better things to waste my money on than watching the tele legally?!

i wouldn't worry about it....

before i moved to london i was renting a flat in newcastle city centre for 2 years - it was a furnished apartment and when i looked round the flat there was a TV there so i presumed it came with the flat. it didn't but when i moved in i didn't ever get round to buying one, i prefer listening to music and all i ever watch on the TV is football, so i just went to the pub if i was that bothered.

anyway, i used to get these letters all the time. over the 2 years they got increasingly threatening but not once did i get a visit. i was actually looking forward to them coming round to be honest, i was going to make them really work hard to get into the flat to have a look, making sure they had a proper search warrant or whatever they need to get in, cos based on the wording of their letters they don't believe anyone could possibly live without a TV and find owt else to occupy their lives with!!!!!

you'll find in time the letters will:

-make more and more threats
-use more UPPER CASE AND BOLD TEXT to show they mean it
-use red ink to show they're really cross with you - so you better buy a licence

Richard will be immune to all that. He uses the Bunker, remember

Wait until they come round, murder them horribly, steal all the top notch technology out of their van, sell it, and then use the gutted vehicle to move back to France.

Here in third world oppressive China, if you don't pay your telly thingy they turn it off and leave you with the free channels.

Now why didn't Britain think of that?? Maybe it's a bit cheaper......

... LOOK, ignore it and when they eventually turn up they'll see you haven't got one and be on their way, it's happened to me and it's no big deal. it's hardly rebel without a cause because you've been fingered by the TV detector people... if you're gonna rebel against something make it worthwhile, the TV detector van aint the Stasi is it?

Here, in Great Britain, if you don't pay your TV licence fee, which works out at about £2 per week, for the following:-

BBC1, 2, 3 and 4, CBeebies and CBBC, Radio 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and Sports Extra, the World Service, etc etc etc etc etc, they fine you £1000

So £2pw or a bag of sand......????

PS

I know they employ Wossy, Wogan and all the others, I know BBC3 is shite, I know blah blah fucking blah, it's £2 a week

I bet they do something sneaky like affecting your credit rating. Bastaards!

I rebel against EVERYTHING!

Or just do this...

http://www.tpuc.org/node/60

Scroll down the page and see the TV licence bit!

It's not a tax it's a fee, if one is going to be pedantic


Fair enough YOU might not miss it, but your kids might, your kids might miss the radio stations, they might miss the BBC websites they use for research, who knows?

Lets abolish the BBC and just have commercial TV, it will be knockout, won't it.................

It's a fee............

And you've just said abolish the BBC, now you want it to pay for itself

Make your bleeding mind up!

Mr Head doesn't have a credit rating, he's been out of the country for 30 years.

to put it another way...........


If you do all your shopping at say TESCO..........

ASDA don't charge you £150+ a year because they offer a similar service to tesco which you can use if u want to....


Also why is it that the majority of ex-pats around the world seem to be able to watch all the BBC channels, listen to the radio for NOWT.........

Fair point.

They don't, BBC America, for example, is fee based by the local cable providers

The Radio is free, as it is in the UK

so if in the uk u subscibe to SKY VIRGIN etc which include the BBC u are payin TWICE

AS SAID AN UNFAIR tax!

because its the cost of half a season ticket, which would help danny find another target man.....

everything is relevant!

You arent though, are you

The BBC channels are FREE, they are bundled with the package, so you don't pay...

u said example in america the fee is included in the cable subscription....

the fact that the licence funds the BBC makes a mockery of the statement the BBC is free......

you can fool some of the people etc,........



any ways sign this.....

http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/FairpayTV/

I'm not trying to 'fool' anyone one

Any profit the BBC makes, from DVD sales, additional subs etc etc, is put back into 'pot' so to speak

Why on earth does everyone seem to believe that going down the commercial route for TV is the answer???

ITV is by and large wank

Im not sayin you are tryin to fool anyone, but the Gov, and previous Gov are sayin the TV licence is for the permission to have a TV not to watch the BBC...

From your above statement about ITV and the good the BBC do generating more cash, you like the BBC, and so wish to keep the licence fee, as long as everyone helps pay for it....
How many pro licence supporters would continue to have that opinion if they had to each equally fund the BBC without those of us who could quite happily live without it or the licence?

Im sure IOR would love the opportunity to charge everyone who watches live football matches a fee so that they to can provide a service worldwide....

Just for the record, if I did have a TV I wouldn't mind paying the fee. *shrug*

The BBC receive approx £140 per year from almost every household in the country to provide ....
A TV service, whether you want it or not....

Your regional electricity distribution company..DNO... holds a gov licence to distribute electricity to your home...
at a yearly cost to you of .........£45

Regardless of how much electricity you use the cost to you is £45 in the north east of england from berwick down to lincolnshire...

If that service is lost for whatever reason the DNO must under its licence restore supplies to your property funded out of that £45... storms winds snow....etc
If the fault is due to a third party damage ie some hits an underground cable the DNO can charge the third party costs only, ie not make a profit from it..... the yearly profit for the DNO is capped at 6.5%.. any more must be used to upgrade the distribution network or used to reduce the £45 charge...

why is the BBC fee £140
and the DNO fe £45?

might it be that not many if any of the DNO workers are on £300,000 a year!

Why do DNO have a logo that looks like a Mr Wimpy burger and how come they sponsored Pools if they supply electricity to the whole country?

What a rebel

I thought the BEEB was supposed to be advert free yet after just about every programme they show an advert for some radio station or for some other show, just replace these with adverts for other stuff like cars, coffee, BT who would pay for the privilage.

Also that stuff that they have on before programmes like the hippos swimming in a circle and things like that didn't they cost around £300,000, more licence money well spent

And the 300K they just spent on BBC3 which nobody who's not catatonic ever watches.

For the record, yes I can watch everything and hear everything that's not put out live on wonderful BBCi.....

For nowt.

As can my 1.3 billion countrymates.

Thanks Auntie, and thanks to you all too!!

Anrd ther ma,lord i rest my case!

Ah, but don't forget, when you reach 40, you cease to be a rebel and are just reclassified as...cantankerous!

And 50? and 60?