Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Flexible and made to last.

Meet the Other Phone.
Flexible and made to last.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To have told the to licence man to piss off?

274 replies

DontGoRhiannonStay · 20/01/2017 12:50

I have phoned them so many times and told them we don't need a licence. I have a no licence needed declaration.
So when this guy stood on my doorstep and tried to read me some
Sort of "rights" was IBU to tell him to piss off before shutting the door on him? (It felt amazing)

OP posts:
PrivatePike · 20/01/2017 14:21

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

ChasingMars · 20/01/2017 14:25

They're not a company, they're a government agency not double glazing salesmen!

I do understand people's frustrations but the honous is on the householder to prove they don't have a TV- in much the same way you need to have a SORN if your car is off road or do a tax return if you are self employed. Unfortunately a huge number of people who phone up and say they have no TV are lying! If you let the officer into your property to check rather than abusing them they would sign off your address and that would be the end of it.

I am sure there are some VERY rude licensing officers, but then there are some very rude people in all walks of life. Dh also meets some very lively people who are happy to let him check if they have a TV and chat with him pleasantly, so it doesn't have to be this way.

mycatwantstokillme1 · 20/01/2017 14:26

My dad used to be a TV license officer. He did everything he could to NOT harass people, fine them or take them to court. In many houses he went to people were living in poverty. He used to ask me not to send my son's old toys to the charity shop, instead he used to keep them in the boot of his car and if he went to a house where a mum had kids and not much else, he used to give them the toys.
So yes, if the bloke wasn't rude to you were very fucking unreasonable and rude to tell him to piss off. Someone else in the company made an error by having you on his list, not him. If it made you happy to abuse someone for doing his job then you might need some anger management!

ChasingMars · 20/01/2017 14:26

*lovely

wasonthelist · 20/01/2017 14:27

I do understand people's frustrations but the honous is on the householder to prove they don't have a TV

No. The onus is on TVL to prove you have been watching live tv.

Unlike SORN there is no legal requirement or fine for non-notification.

You don't need a TV licence to own a TV.

ScruffyTheJanitor · 20/01/2017 14:27

They're not a company, they're a government agency not double glazing salesmen!

Funny, last I heard they were a private company called "Capita" employed on behalf of the BBC.

PrivatePike · 20/01/2017 14:27

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

CheshireChat · 20/01/2017 14:29

To be fair, ours was perfectly nice. Polite, asked if it was on to see our setup (TV plugged in to an Xbox), I explained we never watch live TV and he made a note and we were never bothered again.

This was before the whole BBC iPlayer thing which is irrelevant as I don't watch that either!

CheshireChat · 20/01/2017 14:30

Ooh, cross posted.

ChasingMars · 20/01/2017 14:32

Scruffy TV licensing are a government agency. They outsource to Capita in the same way the NHS and other publicly funded bodies do. Using a company to recruit and manage staff doesn't change the fact that they are a government agency and have a number of legal powers- including reading you the caution and applying for and executing a search warrant on your property.

WankingMonkey · 20/01/2017 14:32

If you let the officer into your property to check rather than abusing them they would sign off your address and that would be the end of it.

Why SHOULD you let the officer in though? They do not work for the government, its a private company. You don't have to let them in anymore than you have to let one of Lowels representatives in...and they try the same tactics...let us in, we can sort out this 'endless letter issue' all you have to do is prove you do not (own a TV) owe the debt. Also even if you do let them in...you just get someone else weeks later wanting into your home to prove you do not need a license.

Which is why I now pay for one despite not actually needing one, cannot be arsed with the harassment. Though I do realise that paying for one when not needing one is playing right into their hands..but I cannot be arsed with it anymore.

(and yes, I am sure I don't need one. I watch nothing live, or on bbc iplayer..infact I watch no bbc content AT ALL. I do find it odd though that you need a tv license to watch US channels live, on your broadband though.)

mycatwantstokillme1 · 20/01/2017 14:34

PrivatePike he is a good bloke, he hated the other TV license officers that just wanted to get people to court. It's funny though because he's built like a tank and looks like a football hooligan! It used to upset him seeing how many people live in such absolute poverty. He left in the end, and got a job taking children with special needs to and from school. He does have his bad points though. How my mum puts up with him sometimes I don't know!

WankingMonkey · 20/01/2017 14:35

including reading you the caution and applying for and executing a search warrant on your property.

I believe they can apply for a warrant...or so all of the hudreds of letters I was sent whilst not needing a license (and allowing the officers to check also) told me. They cannot execute a search without the police present though.

LivingOnTheDancefloor · 20/01/2017 14:36

mycat
Someone else in the company made an error by having you on his list, not him
It wasn't "an error" it is how they work.
Threatening letters, threats, lies. I have received letters stating "you own a TV, you owe us x amount, we will take you to court if you don't pay" when I didn't own a TV.
I doubt someone working for them is not aware...

Your dad sounds like a great person, nothing personal against him of course. I don't know if the policies were the same when he was an officer.

spaXXlappazz · 20/01/2017 14:37

YANBU at all. You are doing nothing wrong if you don't have a licence because you don't need one. The fact that you don't have a licence does not automatically mean that you are watching TV unlawfully and you shouldn't fall under suspicion without actual evidence.

I'm not surprised the "inspector" got such short shrift from you. "Reading you your rights" is something that a police officer does when they suspect you of a crime. TV Licence "officials" use this perception to try to intimidate people into letting them into their home, they try to imply that they have some sort of legal power to "inspect" you.

(FWIW, I currently have a TV and a TV Licence. A few years ago when I didn't own a TV I got threatening letters every couple of weeks - the fact I told them repeatedly that I didn't own a TV didn't stop them wasting their money and my time sending them.)

ChasingMars · 20/01/2017 14:39

Wankingmonkey (great name) of course you don't have to let them in, I was just suggesting that it may put on end to things!! They can apply for a search warrant, they can summon you to court and they do have legal powers- the fact that they outsource to Capita to provide staff has absolutely no bearing on this legal status.

roseshippy · 20/01/2017 14:42

They can't apply for a search warrant just because you don't have a TV licence. And they can't summons you court if you ignore them. And they don't have any legal powers.

They work by tricking people into talking to them, getting them to sign a 'confession' and then using THAT to go to court.

If you just ignore them they won't take you to court because they don't have any evidence. Simple as that.

Coffeethrowtrampbitch · 20/01/2017 14:43

This is sad. We stopped watching TV 9 months ago, talked to TV licensing, and got a visit in August.

The man was very polite, and explained if he could come in and check we had no virgin or sky boxes we wouldn't receive another visit.

We did and we haven't received a visit or any letters.

Some of the posters above have had unacceptable experiences, if someone tried to read me my rights or bully me into signing something I think I would swear if anyone from that organisation came near my home again.

ChasingMars · 20/01/2017 14:46

Rose actually they can apply for a search warrant and execute it with the police present. And they can take you to court. And yes they do have legal powers. People have been taken to court and fined for not having aicence.

WankingMonkey · 20/01/2017 14:46

Wankingmonkey (great name) of course you don't have to let them in, I was just suggesting that it may put on end to things!!

It doesn't though, this is why people get so pissed off with it all

WankingMonkey · 20/01/2017 14:48

Also they can't take you to court as they do not have your details. The only way they can get your details is by you signing their form. Or if you have previously had a license and stopped paying it. If you move to a new property and never have anything to do with them, ignore all contact and such, they cannot take YOU to court.

ChasingMars · 20/01/2017 14:48

But other posters have said once they let the officer in and spoke to him they have had no further communication, so obviously in some cases it does pay to let them check?

LivingOnTheDancefloor · 20/01/2017 14:49

Chasing I believe they can get a search warrant if they have proof/reasons to suspect you are lying about not needing a license, not just because you don't have a license.

LadyGlitterSparklesSeriously · 20/01/2017 14:49

I'm so sick of this. Same as you, OP. The wire to my satellite dish has even been severed, I've invited them in countless times to view my set-up (which is a PC connected to my TV) and despite them leaving satisfied each and every time they come back again and again. I don't watch live TV. It's not that hard.

Yanbu.

WankingMonkey · 20/01/2017 14:50

But other posters have said once they let the officer in and spoke to him they have had no further communication, so obviously in some cases it does pay to let them check?

In some cases it may well have paid.

Even taking into account those cases though, you do not ever have to let them into your home. You may do so (as I did) in the hope that thats the end of it. It certainly is not always. Ad to the the ridiculous amount of letters and such that mush cost a fucking fortune to send out on such a regular basis, and the threatening tone the officers sometimes (always in my case) have...you can kind of understand why people get annoyed with them.