To not let TV licence authorities in without a warrant?

[BeyondTheLimitsOfAcceptability]

Having a discussion on facebook with some friends, I know I don't need a license quite a few of them didnt know the criteria, but we're past that now as I dont watch (or record in any way) LIVE TV

I said that TV licence officials don't have the right to enter a property without a warrant. The police need a warrant (except in some circumstances, I know, but generally), so why do TV licence people think they are above this?

I asked the local police fb page if they have the right to come in, and they said they cannot comment on TV licensing procedures and that i'd have to ask them. If I did, they'd obviously say they have the right to come in, wouldn't they? So are they above the law?!

So back to the original question. Some people think I'm right, some wrong, and some say that it's just easier to let them in !!

What do you think??

To those who say "just let them in, it's no big deal" - to me it's the principle. I signed a declaration every year saying I didn't have a TV. That's fine - that's the equivalent amount of effort as buying a licence once a year. I never, not once, placed, owned, watched or used a TV in that home. So why should I, a law-abiding person fulfilling the statutory requirement (filling in the form) have to let someone into my house to confirm my adherence to the law?

My aunt doesn't have a driving licence. She's never had one and has never been behind the wheel of a car or wanted to learn to drive. She's never been visited by a DVLA official demanding that she proves the lack of a licence. She's never received letters warning her that driving without a licence is a criminal offence. It's the same principle.

Last time I checked, owning a TV was a choice. Not owning a TV was a choice. I'm buggered if I was going to show a complete stranger round my house to prove a negative just because my lifestyle choice was in the minority.

Well he had the right because I invited him in.

How else do you expect TV Licensing to establish that people who claim not to have a TV are telling the truth? Bearing in mind that detector vans are and always have been a myth and online streaming would make such technology impossible anyway.

As someone said before (apologies, I've forgotten where and since used the quote as my own )...
I don't have to declare to the police each morning that I haven't murdered anyone overnight. Why do you have to declare to the TV licence people that you haven't broken the law?

How else do you expect TV Licensing to establish that people who claim not to have a TV are telling the truth

So you let him search your bedrooms as well?

They should prove that you do have one and obtain the means of search if in doubt.

It isn't the crime of the century to not have a licence, anyway, but by the way some think that they can speak to people you would think that it is.

And I could have murdered someone! My living room could be decorated with their blood now as I type

How will the police know that this is not the case without checking the homes of everyone who has declared they have not killed anyone?

Brilliant anology fire and beyond.

Fires is better than mine :)

And i dont drive, lol

Another vote for Fire's analogy :)

The TV licence people are a nuisance. We stopped buying a licence because we never watch live tv, but got so much hassle from them DH went out and bought a new one just to get rid of them I'm not at all happy about that because to me they seem to work in complete contradiction of the basic principles that people are innocent until proven guilty, and that it is up to the accuser to prove guilt, not the accused to prove their innocence.

TV licence people are such arrogant bullies. I lived without a TV for a while and received dozens of increasingly threatening letters, even though I wrote to them to point out I didn't have a flipping telly. Then I moved into a shared house, bought a licence (none of my flatmates had bothered) and started to get a whole succession of threatening letters there too!

If you have a tV and say you don't watch it can they prove that you do or don't?

Years ago I had a reasonable letter from them asking me why I had no TV, I sent a short reply explaining that I did not have a TV and then they left me alone.

But years later at a different address they sent me a letter, I wrote back with a similar polite letter explaining I had no TV. They then started to write nasty letters. So frankly they have marked their card, if they do like the fact that I now dislike them with an intense passion then they should have not started it by writing nasty letters to me.

truth > every year when my family receive a reminder re tv license i write to them , informing them no cash will be forthcoming from family and reminding them the entire contract situation is in fact borderline illegal, they then send me or rather my family , a letter , acknowledging my letter , and telling us/them no further action will be taken re this for 2 years . AS SAID , TRUTH , think about it , AND , if you must agree to letting any tosser into your home , wait till they arrive , and insist on a WITNESS ! neutral witness ! take photos ! it is your home !!!!

They do seem to have stopped sending out letters. We were in our last flat for over three years and never got a letter from them and have been here for four months and haven't had one yet. I think it's just getting more and more common for people to not watch live TV so it stopped being worthwhile sending to the occupier letters.

The detector vans are bullshit too, right?

Reading all this with interest. We've just moved and we don't watch TV. We have a very very old TV with a built in video player which is around 18yrs old. We don't have a digibox or an aerial connector, we only have a DVD player. I have a computer with a dongle, which is impossible to use for live TV. I have told the people in the TV licencing office this, and they said that is was fine, I didn't need a licence, but that two 'enforcement officers' would visit me in the next 2 weeks! I'm concerned that they may try to bully their way in, and if they get in may try to accuse me of watching TV on my laptop (and I can assure you I can't with my dongle and reception!) If I do let them in, are they likely to believe me and go away, or will these people be hassling me forever?

Enforcement Officials ?
Even their language is Big Brother.
I wouldn't let them in.

Gah, I was getting nasty letters for 3 years that made me rage. They made the letters look like court summons and were very threatening. I never had a tv and when they turned up in afraid I told them to fuck off

I don't even bother opening the letters. Just put them straight in the recycling. Life is too short to worry about wankers like them.

is the tv license only for bbc tv/radio channels? I would gladly opt out of these to not pay a TV licence or is it for all channels?

Why not just let them in, see that you have no live tv and go?

Why make them go get a warrant when you are innocent and waste loads of money and time?

It's the principle Kayano, innit.
I pay my licence quarterly by direct debit, but if I didn't have tv I'd be furious if someone came to the door.

ChattyMummy You aren't quite correct. HM customsand Excise are the only people who can search your house without a warrant.

I'm going to let them in Kayano. I just want to know that once they've been in, they will stop hassling me.

TodaysAGoodDay - did you get a letter or did you do the right thing and tell them you'd moved?

tittytittyhanghang - even though the money goes to the BBC, you can't just promise not to watch it and not pay the license fee.