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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Bullying TV licence inspector

306 replies

LapdanceShoeshine · 30/12/2017 19:07

DD2 moved into a new address with her BF on 1st December. They had no live TV until shortly before Christmas & didn’t even think about getting a licence (it’s an old TV from when her BF lived alone elsewhere)

Today a woman knocked on the door just as DD2 was about to go out & asked “are you Mrs X?” (previous resident). DD2 said no. Woman asked if they have a TV, more or less pushed her way in to see (small terraced house, front door opens straight into living room), started demanding information like DD2’s NI number, & wanted DD2 to hand over her bank details immediately. (Despite the haranguing DD2 managed to resist this & instead signed up for TV licence on her phone in front of the woman.)

Surely this isn’t how they’re supposed to behave? Having come to see a specific person, who moved out in October, she should just have requested to see some ID & then left with a warning to get a new TV licence asap?

Any advice? I’ve suggested she make a formal complaint. The woman even read her a caution!

OP posts:
Original poster
LapdanceShoeshine · 30/12/2017 23:04

If I provided you with evidence from talktalk of the specific date their freeview TV reception became available, would you back off from your insulting assumptions?

OP posts:
JustanotherJP · 30/12/2017 23:06

The inspector clearly had overstepped her powers by the sounds of it given your description of where she was in the property.

‘Breaking the law and got away with it’?

Jesus

Well yes, what else could you describe it as? She had broken the law even if unwittingly and yes she got away with it. Not seeing how that could be debated otherwise, it is all factual.

Original poster
LapdanceShoeshine · 30/12/2017 23:06

@bridgetreilly

OP: AIBU?
Everyone else: Yes.
OP: Lalalala wrong answer lalalala

I take it you’ve only read the posts you agree with?

OP posts:
headoutofthesand · 30/12/2017 23:08

I've RTFT & don't see what the issue is. Your DD didn't have a licence & now she does. No doubt part of the licence fee is spent on paying Capita. As a licence fee payer, I am glad I only had to pay for Capita to visit your daughter once to get her to comply with her legal obligations rather than have to follow up because they had "logged" it and then your DD forgot. Doing it there & then seems very efficient as the problem was immediately solved and both parties knew it has been.

Original poster
LapdanceShoeshine · 30/12/2017 23:09

This thread is just like the alternative reality on threads about people who accidentally exceed speed limits

OP posts:
fizzthecat1 · 30/12/2017 23:11

OP why are you wasting time arguing with these lunatics lol

Original poster
LapdanceShoeshine · 30/12/2017 23:12

I don’t know, fizz Grin

OP posts:
Rainbowmother · 30/12/2017 23:14

I had a right old cow buzz my door pretending she was a neighbour.

I had just moved in with boxes, a toddler and a baby and was panicking about money and a job.

I wouldn't let her in my flat but she said I didn't have a license. Updating my new address had been the first thing I had done and I knew it. I called tv licensing and refused to give her my name.

What I didn't appreciate was, I hadn't met my new neighbours and every time one of them came and went from their flats she started shouting "I can't help you if you won't help yourself!" And "we can talk about payment plans " etc trying to make out she was a bailiff. She was trying to embarrass me. I ended up crying and got hysterical (nothing to do with her, the stress of everything going on came out. I complained to tv licensing on the phone who confirmed I did have a license and she was wrong .

Sugarhunnyicedtea · 30/12/2017 23:19

As you weren't actually there it is entirely possible your dd has exaggerated what happened. As she is an adult she is fully aware she needs a TV licence to watch live TV, she didnt have one for at least a couple of weeks, she now has one.

fizzthecat1 · 30/12/2017 23:19

I hadn't met my new neighbours and every time one of them came and went from their flats she started shouting "I can't help you if you won't help yourself!" And "we can talk about payment plans " etc trying to make out she was a bailiff

Confused wow that's horrible

DeepanKrispanEven · 30/12/2017 23:27

Why should we be forced to buy a tv licence?

Because the law passed by the Queen in Parliament says so?

malmi · 30/12/2017 23:29

Be very careful how you word any complaint as it may amount to a written confession of watching whilst unlicenced.

You've not done your daughter any favours so far. I suggest you back off and let her take charge of her own life.

ChickenVindaloo2 · 30/12/2017 23:30

Hmm. You don't actually fess up in your OP that your daughter didn't have a TV licence when she should have. Not a lot of honesty between you and your daughter, is there? And there are names for folk who use services without paying for them...

And "she was just about to get one" is no use. Bit like folk who drive a new car home and then get the car insurance.

I'm happy to pay the TV licence if it means I don't have to spend 1/3 of the time watching adverts. Gave up watching Victoria on ITV for this reason.

DeepanKrispanEven · 30/12/2017 23:36

So in your opinion there’s no leeway? Get a licence the moment you start using a TV or else face the full force of the “law”?

Well, no. Try walking out of a shop with goods you haven't paid for and see how far you get arguing that you should be given leeway.

Bosses promise bonuses of up to £15,000 a year, saying staff must gather evidence to take as many people to court as possible.

What's the relevance of that, other than to show that if anything your dd was let off lightly by not being taken to court?

Julie8008 · 30/12/2017 23:42

What annoys people is that they are the ones paying for the people like ops DD who dont pay for their TV license.

It just doesn't wash that a 32 yo educated woman doesn't know about a TV license. Ignorance is no excuse of the law. Has she never owned her own TV in 14 years? And having just moved house is no excuse as you can arrange to have it sorted months in advance.

Your DD is not being persecuted, she was caught using something she hadn't paid for. What other bill/service in life is it acceptable to brush off and pay when you get around to it? Wish I could tell my bank manager that line.

When would DD have gotten around to paying for the service she was using if she is claiming she didn't know she had to. And when she did would she have back paid or would she have happily stolen taken a few free months? Not that anyone would ever do that.

Good luck with your complaint of. "I want to complain that my daughter was forced to pay for a service she was using. Which she wouldn't have had to if the inspector hadn't, sort of, forced her way in (but didn't really) and saw that she had a TV. Its not fair my precious snowflake should be treated in such a way and I expect an apology from the inspector for not giving us special privilege. I would also like compensation for the trauma we have been exposed to."

ChickenVindaloo2 · 30/12/2017 23:43

Classic case of minimising the offence here. I actually hope your daughter gets prosecuted. Which may still happen, btw.

Bet you were the kind of parent who was down at the school every 5 minutes because although your kid had been naughty, the teacher hadn't handled your precious snowflake with enough love.

starfishmummy · 30/12/2017 23:43

*Seriously, there is no lackadaisical attitude being reinforced here. We’ve had a TV licence for 30+ years, & the BF’s parents will have had too(

Well that's ok then Biscuit.

"Do you have a tv licence?:
"No but my parents do"
"Oh that's great, bye"

Original poster
LapdanceShoeshine · 30/12/2017 23:46

Has she never owned her own TV in 14 years?

No

OP posts:
ChickenVindaloo2 · 30/12/2017 23:50

Are your DD and dBF paying for council tax? Gas & electric? I assume they are paying their rent/mortgage!.

Perhaps it's time you sat down and taught her (and her boyf) how to run a home and their finances. better late than never

Original poster
LapdanceShoeshine · 30/12/2017 23:52

Some astounding assumptions being made here

OP posts:
Wineasaurous · 30/12/2017 23:54

I find it hilarious/terrifying that a fully grown woman in her 30s had to run to mummy because the mean old TV licensing people caught her committing a crime which she was 'just about to sort out'. What's more worrying, is that the mother in this scenario didn't just respond with "....and?"

The sheer amount of times I caught people trying to walk out of our restaurant without paying and their excuse was always "it just slipped my mind"/"I was just about to"

Original poster
LapdanceShoeshine · 30/12/2017 23:55

Seriously, am I supposed to give a year-by-year account of DD2’s life since she turned 18?

I mean I will if it helps anybody stop assuming she’s a 32-yr-old child...

OP posts:
Julie8008 · 30/12/2017 23:55

Even if you didn't ever own a TV then you would have had to pay a share of the license fee in any house you have ever lived in, including university.

So unless she lived at home her whole life (with parents paying the bills) your implying she has never lived anywhere with a TV in over a decade? That would be very rare indeed.

Original poster
LapdanceShoeshine · 30/12/2017 23:56

@Wineasaurous

Why do you assume she “ran to mummy”?

OP posts:
ChickenVindaloo2 · 30/12/2017 23:56

What are those assumptions then, OP? That your DD is subject to the same laws as the rest of us?

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