TV license officers threatening me

[Lovelybitofsquirrel3]

This is a bit long.
Backstory, at my previous address I got a letter about not having a TV license. I called to explain I don't need one but the person I was speaking to still kept me on the phone for a while, and even after them going over what counts as live TV and me explaining I only watch things like disney+, they were very threatening as they were saying things like ''if you are found to be watching TV'' and the whole speech and threatening that if an officer visits and finds TV equipment I could be prosecuted. After a short few months of not receiving letters, they started again.
Since moving to my new address, I have been receiving the previous tenants sky tv letters and debt collection letters, threatening bailiffs, including a sky hub. It's really frustrating. I attempted to contact sky to explain that he doesn't live here but they insisted they couldn't do anything. I couldn't find the man named on the letters to contact him. I even tried making a local facebook post to ask if anyone knew him and not a single person replied.
I've been getting letters from the TV licensing agency and binned them each time, I didn't want to phone them because of my previous experience, and information online suggested that it was an empty threat and they would do nothing. But at the end of the year I got a letter about an upcoming visit from an enforcement officer. They never arrived. I've just received one again today, I'll comment underneath with a photo of it. I have cropped out the top and bottom in case the named officer can identify the area I live in, but the bottom says that a report will be sent to the prosecutor fiscal who will decide on prosecution. The link they've given where I can update I don't need a license online is actually broken and not functional.
I can't remember where I read it, but apparently receiving letters from sky can be seen as proof that I'm watching live TV, or having a TV can be seen as proof. I also have a satellite connected to the house that was here when I moved.
I haven't done anything wrong but I feel really afraid. The letter reads that if I dont answer they can keep coming back at any time of day. I don't understand why they can go around threatening people like this. I'm thinking about calling the police over it but that might be an over reaction.

I don't have a TV licence. I get a letter from them every few weeks. I just bin it.

I've had one visit in 5 years. I politely just closed the door in his face.

The BBC is just biased state propaganda.

Don’t worry about it. You aren’t doing anything wrong. Declare it online and then let them waste their time if they want to. For the letters for previous occupiers, just write ‘no longer at this address RTS’ on the envelopes and stick them back in post box.

I had one come to my door two years ago. I went to the door alone and he said 'I take it you live here?' I asked him if that's an appropriate way for a strange man to start a conversation with a woman and asked what he wanted. I don't watch live TV and filled the declaration in so the door was closed.
Their bullying and harassment is disgusting. Funny how they can find people who may be watching TV but couldn't find a paedophile ring in their own building isn't it

My SIL has never had a television, and doesn't watch on a computer etc. She still gets letters. I think they work on a "guilty unless proved innocent" theory. It's not up to you to prove you don't have one (and you're certainly not obliged to let them in to show them); it's up to them to prove that you do.

Does it have your name on the letter ?
Usually they put dear occupier that means they’re guessing .
They only know it’s you if you tell someone at the door , call them or fill it in online.

At the door do NOT let them in at that moment they are like sales guys , but if they come in see any tv stuff like sky and /or you sign anything (even to set up a direct debit ) then they will fine you )
At the door you can say little or nothing. .
No sorry I don’t watch tv and close the door .
Or not today thank you.

If you have letters for someone else write on the them “not know at this address” and send back in post box.
Call the local council and say you need the persons name of the electoral role If they still have them listed there .

Ah, OK, thanks - I stand corrected!

I suppose there are now so many devices on which you can watch TV now, it was probably a losing battle.

I can't believe this shite is still going on

Back when I was a kid,I lived with my grandad who didn't need nor want a TV

These bastards hounded him to the point they'd show up every Friday,knock,he'd chat to them,show them round to prove we didn't have a TV (this was the 80's so no posh streaming services) and they'd leave

Rinse and repeat every bloody week-we knew them by name

Then my father found out about it (and he can be a nasty sod when he gets angry)

I do not know what he said to them,but they never showed up again

Whoever said they should send these bullies to work at the csa is bang on

Those fools couldn't find my ex even though they had his NI number,address,workplace and inside leg measurement

As pp have said - throw the letters in the bin and get a ring camera to see who is at your door.

I was once threatened by a TV licence muppet who told me he could tell exactly what tv programme I was watching and that their sophisticated detector could tell where the tv was in the house. I had just moved in that day and I couldn’t find the kettle at that point - let alone get the tv set up. The removal van on the drive was a bit of a giveaway but the detector obviously wasn’t sophisticated enough to spot that.

They operate on fear tactics, always have, I've been repairing TVs and fitting aerials for 22 years.

It is NOT illegal to own a television, and have an aerial without a licence, it is an offence to use that equipment to watch TV without one.

There is NO equipment, and never has been that can "detect" a television receiving broadcast TV, in the very early days, when TV was rare and perhaps only a few people on a street had one, it was possible to pick up the emission from the flyback transformer and therefore tell if a TV was switched on in a particular house, that no longer applies, and hasn't since the 60's, Detector Vans were another "fear tactic"

Just don't let the buggers over the threshold, they are employees of Capita who do the work on behalf of the BBC, they have no right of entry whatsoever.

The main method by which TVL prosecutes people is confession.

Hmm, interesting. I wonder how many of those are from people who have genuinely been watching live TV at the premises and not paying, and how many are those who have felt harassed and frightened into 'confessing' - or even those whose words have been twisted e.g. "Do you ever watch live TV?" and then swooping and misrepresenting when they say that they do - but when visiting family or similar?

Either way, a 'confession' is absolutely no guarantee of guilt, when people are being threatened, harassed, bullied or otherwise frightened of the consequences if they don't.

I realise that I'm probably a hypocrite, as I hate a lot of what the BBC stands for, but they do make a lot of great programmes - so I hold my nose and watch (and thus, of course, pay for a TV licence).

However, many people out there absolutely detest them and refuse to engage with any of their output whatsoever.

How disgusting must it feel to be harassed by somebody selling something that you abhor, who is determined that you must enjoy it really.

It must be like being a lifelong vegan and having the local butcher writing to you all the time, demanding to know why you aren't giving them any business, insisting that you must really love meat, so what possible reason could you have for not buying it from them? Followed up by visits and threats of visits to come and check the contents of your fridge and freezer, as you're most probably lying.

They're such bastards. We don't all have to prove we don't own a shotgun and require a licence so how TVL get away with threatening people like this, god only knows.

When I had the drawer space, I saved about 7 years worth of their wanky letters which I used to light the fire with but they make shit fire lighters too so I now file them straight in the bin.

Chill OP, bin, burn, wipe your arse with the letters if you like but just ignore them. If they do come a knocking (never have with me), just answer, don't engage, say "no thanks" and shut the door. Done.

The letters are deliberately meant to be intimidating as they simply do not have the resources to enforce the policy so the aim is to bully people into buying a licence. I don't think they have "detector vans" anymore and even when they did, as a PP said, they detected next to fuck all and were just another scare tactic.

I do have a licence as I watch BBC, but only for David Attenborough of course. RIP Victoria Wood

OP Whatever you do, don't take @KrimbleCrumble's advice in the post above mine. If they make shit fire lighters, they'll be fuck all use for wiping your arse. It's the plastic in the paper.

Unfortunately, no analysis available I don't think. I do know that a lot of people now hear the caution and believe it means the exact opposite of what it does mean. i.e. they think they have to answer questions, when there is a right not to. And that's not "not if you don't feel like it, and you're innocent anyway", but "not under any and all circumstances".

The only quibble of understanding is that TVL won't tell you that you can have a Solicitor present, but you can and they should probably advise you of that right.

Even if they have a very rare search warrant, they cannot force you to answer questions, and your non-answer can't practically be held against you.

The interview process simply shouldn't be operating the way TVL operate it. It shouldn't be on the doorstep, or on the sofa with the kids running round, it should provide a way to have a Solicitor present, it shouldn't use a one-sided interview form, which shouldn't be on paper, and there should be a proper recording of the interview on audio, at least.

The detector vans have always been a bluff because they'd need to disclose how they work for the evidence to be used in court.

That information has never been disclosed, so any evidence would be worthless.

Even if they did exist, what sort of bullshit country has government agents sat in the back of a van trying to triangulate 'unlicenced' TVs.

That's some pretty terrifying totalitarian bullshit.

That’s not the TV Licence website, it’s “TVL.com”

The punctuation is ridiculous. The cost is ridiculous and not the cost of a licence - that’s only £15 a month.

the domains lsited in her letter are tvl.co.uk which is the correct one, tvl.com isn't? tvl.com is a tracking website in Canada

Can anyone advise if calling them will cost me money

I thought you weren’t going to call them. What has changed your mind?

I had this at my late mother’s home when she went into care and then while we were waiting to sell the house. There was no TV there.

If you fill in the form/ call them they leave you alone for about 3 months. Then they start again. It is just a computer

I think it guilt trips many people into buying a licence.

Why does the OP need to call them?

The onus is on them to prove she is using a TV.

She doesn't, so they can't prove that.

OP if they knock on the door you open a window and ask them what they want and tell them you don't watch TV. If they go off to get a warrant that is up to them.

You will know if a delivery is due, most packages are tracked these days and you know they are coming.

They cannot manhandle you out of the way if you opened the door anyway.

Why not google and see? It will say if the number is a standard rate etc.

But why would you call them anyway? As I said, you don't have to prove anything, they do.

It might feel like they should respect you more if you tell them you don't need a Licence, but the reality is a bit more complicated. And the reason why it is more complicated is because if doing that meant they would leave you alone, then everyone would do it.

Telling them you don't need a Licence should stop the threatening letters for 2 years (might be less if you are a student, or in a "student area"). However, they may still make a house call (and they tell you this).

When they call, they might be a bit more polite than on a normal enforcement doorstepping, but they don't tend to be that rude these days in any case.

It shouldn't be more complicated though. If the BBC wants to be a subscription service there is plenty of technology available to them to facilitate this without them having to intimidate and harass vulnerable people.

When was the last time Now TV or Sky knocked on your door and demanded you prove you're not using their services? Or the last time Virgin Media sent you a threatening letter asking you to phone them to confirm you are not using their services?

The license had its uses in the days before cable, but now it is archaic and needs scrapping.

I agree and it's a shame that no one in authority has ever asked questions of the BBC as to why their enforcement system was so bad.

Unfortunately, though, I can't see the current government coming up with anything that is more liberal than what we have now.