BBC 'shelves' Panorama exposé of Comic Relief

Lumpy79
reply to post by sapien82

 

I would love nothing more to stop paying my license fee but i have 2 kids and a wife i have to provide for. If i get sent down i will lose my job.

Tell me if there is another way without being jailed.

The TV licensing people have little power. They are a private company (Capita) and as such have no legal power like the police, you don't have to talk to them or let them in. They can apparently get warrants to come in but need evidence first. You can legally withdraw the right for them to come into your property, so they can't get 'evidence', which is silly things like looking through your window, or seeing if you have TV guides or a satellite dish. The easiest policy is no contact.

There are various forums about this online that go into more detail.

www.tvlicenceresistance.info...


As for comic relief, no surprise there, anyone can see these big charities profit the people that set them up mostly. Apparently most councils in the UK also invest public money, council tax, in arms companies.

reply to post by DrHammondStoat


That's not entirely true - the BBC outsources much of the collection work to Capita, but Capita is not the Licensing Authority. Several other companies are employed for different aspects of the TV License work. It is still the BBC that is in charge, mind.

On the rest of it though, you're quite right. The "Enforcement Officers" are just normal Joe Public's and have no special powers. You are under no obligation to open the door, allow them access or even engage them in conversation.

The onus is on them to prove you are in breach of the Law, not on you to prove you're not. They can apply for a Warrant from a Magistrate, but they rarely do. Many people are prosecuted though, over 180,000 in 2012 alone but that was out of a total 400,000 odd who admitted not having a license when they should have done.