to think that even if you don't agree with TV licenses........it no reason to tip a beer......

[fannyannie]

over a TV Licence Officer when they come knocking on your door????

DH just sent me a text to tell me that one of his colleagues (they are part of a 'team' across the Midlands, but work independetly) had a can of beer poured over him yesterday!!! Because the occupier of the flat he visited doesn't agree with having to pay his TV Licence and "fine me if you like" (actually the Sales Officers don't hand out fines, only Enforcement Officers).

Just after DH started his job - nearly 2yrs ago, someone threw a brick/rock/something large and heavy, at him as he walked back down their garden path to the gate (it missed), and last year another of his team members got beaten up.........by someone that happened to be passing by and overheard him telling a home owner that he worked for TV Licensing!

When they're sent the visits they have to do there's always a list of "incidents" which have occured at various address in the postcode area (whether or not they're actually visiting that address or not) and some of the things are shocking - threatened with baseball bat, had dogs set on them, verbally abused, and one even threatened to shoot a VO!

It makes me so that people can like that - they're only trying to do their job FFS.....

RANT OVER

YANBU, that's awful

Feel free to rant fannyannie - dreadful behaviour
Some people

Sheesh. That's awful.

thankfully though not everyone is like that - DH has met lots of lovely people doing this job too, including people that went to the same school as him in Zim (one of who is now a good friend of his), lots of lovely Polish people who've given him bottles of Polish Vodka, people that offer him tea and coffee, let him use the loo (he's in the car all day - no office loo to pop too - he knows practically all the Supermarket toiles in Northants now LOL) and even invited to stay for dinner.

I avoid listening to/reading the local news when he's at work as (especially in the evenings in winter when it's dark) I've always got in the back of my mind that it could be him being attacked/beaten up.

Thats truely horrendous. He's only doing his job ffs and like you say regardless of whether you agree with licenses or not they exist and you are meant to have one! To think that people physically assault someone for trying to enforce this is beyond unreasonable!

thing is alicet - they're not even trying to 'enforce' it - basically as Sales Officers they just visit, explain to the person why they need a licence (lots of immigrants that don't realise they need one if they're watching foreign Satelite TV) and try to persaude them to get one there and then (they get bonus for 'sales' completed). If the person says "no" - they just have to leave - no fine or anything.

He should look for a safer job, like a fireman or riot police

lol bkbk

YANBU.

Sadly, I'm not surprised.

I hope the assailant is going to be prosecuted

Of course YANBU. At all.

However, the top bods at TV licensing (NOT the foot soldiers) are pushy little creeps IMO. All that 'we've got a register of every address without a licence' - assuming you are guilty until proved innocent. I am a tad jaundiced by my experience of being constantly harassed when I didn't have a TV. And being harassed again even though I do have a licence - bought a TV for my mother at Christmas and got a snide letter threatening me 'because there's no record of a licence at your address'. Well, that's funny, seeing as they manage to grab their direct debit every month. Grrrr.

fat chance of that I'm afraid police apparently take such "minor" incidents (beer pouring and verbal threats) towards them about as seriously as the fire brigade take cats stuck up trees

actually edam they DO have a register of every address without a licence (many of them not even built yet or empty council places LOL). If you change your address after setting up the direct debit they'll continue to take their money but then you have to remember to tell them you've moved .

And did you know that monthly direct debit is by FAR the most expensive way of paying it? Quarterly or in full (if you can afford) it more economical.

And not all the top bods are horrible - well not the ones I've had contact with (while arranging DH's suprise trip to Zimbabwe last year).

Besides - I bet even though they kept visiting (the lisencing officer was probably lazy and just put a "9" code on the returns stuff to say no-one was in - in the hopes that you'd either be lying and give in next time, or that you were renting and someone else would live there who they could nab) - I bet you were still nice to them.

Can you just throw their tiresome harrassing letters in the bin?

Is he not a union member? They should push for it to be policy to prosecute in such incidents. Most employers of public sectors workers do, don't they?

yanu
I hate all this stuff. he was only doing his job. I am always nice to traffic wardens as well.

YANBU but I have had similar experiences to Edam.
Man got very threatening when I didn't want to let him in because it was late in the evening and I lived alone. I had no tv at that point. They say if you simply call the number to tell them they will stop hassling you - well I did and it made not a blind bit of difference.
Eventually I got a tv and of course a license and guess what, I still got letters accusing me of not having one.

Nothing at all against your dh but there is some very bad management in that organisation, some very dodgy methods (they used to send out letters that said it was illegal not to have a tv licence which only mentioned in very small print at the bottom that actually it was ok if you didn't have a tv) and there are some very unpleasant or badly trained individuals working for them.

If they get threatening call them and report them - they're trained and then work alone - the only way they get told to clean up their act is if they're reported. They've got no reason to call after 9pm - as that's when the call centre closes so sales can't be put through. And they do take complaints seriously - someone called the police (not even TV Licensing!) on DH last year saying they'd had a dodgy cold caller - DH then had a call from management very soon afterwards to find out what had been going on - thankfully all cleared up quickly.