Jump to content


Photo

Tv Licensing Laid Bare


  • Please log in to reply
96 replies to this topic

#16 mab01uk

mab01uk

    Moved Into The Garage

  • Members
  • PipPipPipPipPipPipPipPipPipPipPip
  • 11,778 posts
  • Local Club: Mini Cooper Register

Posted 25 March 2019 - 07:51 PM

As someone who was caught and prosecuted for failing to pay TV tax I have learned it is very hard to escape once you've been targeted.
Long story short I was summoned to court for failing to pay my TV tax and ended up being found guilty. While I hadn't used cable tv in nearly 10 years I did use internet. It was ruled that since I had access to the internet and my tablet and/or phone were capable of downloading and viewing the BBC iplayer I needed to pay the tax. In no way could I say I was never going to watch the iplayer as I could get it at anytime with just a couple clicks. That's what really did me in. The whole time I was in court it was always about my ability to view any BBC program. They didn't care about anything else. I ended up having to back pay 5 years of fees as well.
Such a crime that tax is.

 

Having a computer or anything else with access to the internet does not mean you need a TV licence......you must have invited the licence 'Goons' into your house and given them information that you were using BBC iplayer? They rely on scaring people by letter and on their initial contact on the doorstep. You do not have to speak to them or let them in your house, it is recommended you remain silent and shut the door as they do not have any special powers of entry without Police and an official search warrant.

 

"Visiting officers (Goons) are employed by operations contractor Capita.The occupier is not legally obliged to speak to a visiting officer and can ask them to leave at any time. Visiting officers do not have the automatic right to enter a person’s property, but will often request voluntary access to confirm whether or not licensable programme services are being received. Some people will be happy to co-operate with such a request, but an increasing number of non-TV users begrudge being asked to
prove a negative to TV Licensing. TV Licensing Visiting Procedures is a comprehensive document governing how visiting officers perform their duties. In particular
they must always say who they are, show their ID on request and leave when asked to. They must never use the threat of a search warrant or the police to gain entry. In our experience TV Licensing visiting officers frequently ignore these rules. Under normal conditions of employment a full time visiting officer, working the equivalent of 37.5 hours per week, is expected to take at least 38 “Code 8” prosecution statements under caution. They can be disciplined if they miss that target."

From TV Licensing Laid Bare:-
http://tv-licensing.blogspot.co.uk

 


Edited by mab01uk, 25 March 2019 - 08:29 PM.


#17 mab01uk

mab01uk

    Moved Into The Garage

  • Members
  • PipPipPipPipPipPipPipPipPipPipPip
  • 11,778 posts
  • Local Club: Mini Cooper Register

Posted 25 March 2019 - 07:59 PM

 

As someone who was caught and prosecuted for failing to pay TV tax I have learned it is very hard to escape once you've been targeted.
Long story short I was summoned to court for failing to pay my TV tax and ended up being found guilty. While I hadn't used cable tv in nearly 10 years I did use internet. It was ruled that since I had access to the internet and my tablet and/or phone were capable of downloading and viewing the BBC iplayer I needed to pay the tax. In no way could I say I was never going to watch the iplayer as I could get it at anytime with just a couple clicks. That's what really did me in. The whole time I was in court it was always about my ability to view any BBC program. They didn't care about anything else. I ended up having to back pay 5 years of fees as well.
Such a crime that tax is.

 

That's ridiculous.

 

The law in this country is a joke at times.

 

So you now need a TV licence if you have access to the internet? 

 

 

Personal computers and online viewing
"A PC is not considered a television receiver unless it is installed or used to receive licensable programme services. The fact that
a PC is connected to the web, where licensable programme services are freely available only a few clicks away, is totally
irrelevant. A PC becomes a television receiver if a TV tuner card is installed or used to receive licensable programme services, or the
operator navigates to a website showing licensable programme services. Simply owning or connecting a PC to the web does not require a
TV licence, although a lot of people are confused about the issue. These rules apply equally to other web-enabled equipment."
From TV Licensing Laid Bare:-
http://tv-licensing.blogspot.co.uk


Edited by mab01uk, 25 March 2019 - 08:09 PM.


#18 pusb

pusb

    One Carb Or Two?

  • Members
  • PipPipPipPipPipPipPip
  • 1,216 posts
  • Location: Midlands

Posted 25 March 2019 - 07:59 PM

 

As someone who was caught and prosecuted for failing to pay TV tax I have learned it is very hard to escape once you've been targeted.
Long story short I was summoned to court for failing to pay my TV tax and ended up being found guilty. While I hadn't used cable tv in nearly 10 years I did use internet. It was ruled that since I had access to the internet and my tablet and/or phone were capable of downloading and viewing the BBC iplayer I needed to pay the tax. In no way could I say I was never going to watch the iplayer as I could get it at anytime with just a couple clicks. That's what really did me in. The whole time I was in court it was always about my ability to view any BBC program. They didn't care about anything else. I ended up having to back pay 5 years of fees as well.
Such a crime that tax is.

 

Having a computer or anything else with access to the internet does not mean you need a TV licence......you must have invited the licence 'Goons' into your house and given them information that you were using BBC iplayer, they rely on scaring people by letter and on their initial contact on the doorstep. You do not have to speak to them or let them in your house, they do not have any special powers of entry without Police and an official search warrant.

 

 

 

I think this advice is true across the board now unfortunately.

 

Whilst always remaining polite, never give anyone information that you aren't legally obliged to. TV licensing, traffic wardens, council officers, police etc 



#19 kit352

kit352

    Mini Mad

  • Members
  • PipPipPipPip
  • 228 posts
  • Location: Guildford

Posted 25 March 2019 - 08:54 PM

As someone who was caught and prosecuted for failing to pay TV tax I have learned it is very hard to escape once you've been targeted.
Long story short I was summoned to court for failing to pay my TV tax and ended up being found guilty. While I hadn't used cable tv in nearly 10 years I did use internet. It was ruled that since I had access to the internet and my tablet and/or phone were capable of downloading and viewing the BBC iplayer I needed to pay the tax. In no way could I say I was never going to watch the iplayer as I could get it at anytime with just a couple clicks. That's what really did me in. The whole time I was in court it was always about my ability to view any BBC program. They didn't care about anything else. I ended up having to back pay 5 years of fees as well.
Such a crime that tax is.

 
That's ridiculous.
 
The law in this country is a joke at times.
 
So you now need a TV licence if you have access to the internet?
 
Personal computers and online viewing
"A PC is not considered a television receiver unless it is installed or used to receive licensable programme services. The fact that
a PC is connected to the web, where licensable programme services are freely available only a few clicks away, is totally
irrelevant. A PC becomes a television receiver if a TV tuner card is installed or used to receive licensable programme services, or the
operator navigates to a website showing licensable programme services. Simply owning or connecting a PC to the web does not require a
TV licence, although a lot of people are confused about the issue. These rules apply equally to other web-enabled equipment."
From TV Licensing Laid Bare:-
http://tv-licensing.blogspot.co.uk

They did not care about my laptop. Specifically they cited my tablet as a way to stream the bbc. They were very careful in court about what they went after. Having a tv to watch dvd's and such wasn't an issue as it was a dumb tv.
How they got me to court was a little bit of a grey area. No warrant was needed to summon me to court as they could see my tv in plain sight from the street. That was enough for them to claim i was watching tv illegally and for me to present myself as innocent in court with reasoning. As soon as i brought my bill from the internet supplier showing no cable activation they went right after my phones and tablets as a way to stream the bbc illegally. I could not get them away from that subject and the questions they asked to convict me were pretty non-avoidable responses. All yes-no stuff. Do you stream video on yoir phone? Not really, i usually use my tablet. Do you watch video on your tablet mostly then? Yes, unless i have a dvd then i use my big tv. Do you have wifi for your tablet? Yes. Do you access to the app store? Yes. Do you have an app store account? Yes. Can you download the iplayer app? Yes. So if you wanted to you could stream the bbc with your iplayer on your app with your internet? Yes. That was pretty much the guilty process. No amount of arguing or logic got me out of it.

I am positive it was the previous tenants service provider that turned me in as well. One of the arguments against me was that when i moved in and did not activate a cable subscription for that address the licensing agency was notified by the previous provider that my address did not have an active service and i should be looked into as a possible avoider. Took about 4 months to get me into court from the first letter. Just before christmas. Talking to others in my same situation it was pretty clear to me that the rules are vague enough that they can bend them however they want once your in court to make you guilty. Like the rules state a tv but in reality a smart phone is viewed as a tv since it can stream everything. Old nokia not so much.
The rules are old and outdated but thats how they want them. When i paid up they told me its nearly 100% conviction rate when it goes to court because they do there due diligence. They dont, they just play with the rules to make you guilty.

#20 mab01uk

mab01uk

    Moved Into The Garage

  • Members
  • PipPipPipPipPipPipPipPipPipPipPip
  • 11,778 posts
  • Local Club: Mini Cooper Register

Posted 26 March 2019 - 09:05 PM

BBC's TV licencing - Exposed in an under cover operation - Part 1 of 2

 

 

 

The UK TV Licence - what it covers, whether you need one and what happens when you don't have one:-

http://www.licencefr...o.uk/index.html


Edited by mab01uk, 28 March 2019 - 08:20 PM.


#21 mab01uk

mab01uk

    Moved Into The Garage

  • Members
  • PipPipPipPipPipPipPipPipPipPipPip
  • 11,778 posts
  • Local Club: Mini Cooper Register

Posted 11 June 2019 - 07:01 PM

Age UK: Petition to save free TV for older people:-

https://www.ageuk.or...r-older-people/

 

Abolish the BBC television license petition:-

https://petition.par...etitions/235653

 

The BBC's outlay on salaries, which last year was £148million for presenters alone, with Match of the Day host Gary Lineker topping the bill with a pay packet of £1.8million.....

https://www.dailymai...oycott-BBC.html

 

"If you don’t like the BBC you can’t just not buy it – like you’d do with any other service you can think of.

Don’t want to cough up? Expect a slew of official letters warning that Auntie could haul you into court for a rap on the knuckles at any time.

If you leave it too long to pay, you’re then faced with the threat of BBC heavies turning up at your door to check whether your aerial is plugged in, only to be told that all this could go away if only you’d hand over the money. The bullies who send these letters know that millions of people, particularly older ones, will be coerced into coughing up by the official tone and complex guidelines for cancelling the licence fee. And so every year, millions of people begrudgingly relent and hand over £147 to an organisation which couldn’t care less about them.

But younger people are waking up to see the BBC for what it is: a scam......."

https://www.thesun.c...ence-relic-bbc/


Edited by mab01uk, 11 June 2019 - 07:10 PM.


#22 Cooperman

Cooperman

    Uncle Cooperman, Voted Mr TMF 2011

  • TMF+ Member
  • PipPipPipPipPipPipPipPipPipPipPip
  • 23,014 posts
  • Location: Cambs.
  • Local Club: MCR, HAMOC, Chelmsford M.C.

Posted 11 June 2019 - 08:23 PM

You have a TV licence but claim not to watch live broadcasts? Prove it.

 

You have a car capable of breaking every speed limit but you claim not to? Prove it.

 

Where is the difference in principle?



#23 Broomer

Broomer

    Camshaft & Stage Two Head

  • Members
  • PipPipPipPipPipPipPipPip
  • 1,771 posts

Posted 11 June 2019 - 09:37 PM

Couldnt agree more cooperman.

 

You have a TV licence but claim not to watch live broadcasts? Prove it.

 

You have a car capable of breaking every speed limit but you claim not to? Prove it.

 

Where is the difference in principle?



#24 Cooperman

Cooperman

    Uncle Cooperman, Voted Mr TMF 2011

  • TMF+ Member
  • PipPipPipPipPipPipPipPipPipPipPip
  • 23,014 posts
  • Location: Cambs.
  • Local Club: MCR, HAMOC, Chelmsford M.C.

Posted 12 June 2019 - 09:26 PM

From 2020 no-one needs to worry about being caught for committing a fairly serious crime such as assault, robbery, fraud, etc., because the prisons will be full of OAP's who refuse to buy a licence from the paedophile-supporting (Savile, Hall, etc) BBC.

At least in the nick they will not have to worry about having to choose between eating, heating, watching TV and paying their rates. In the nick everything is included and inmates don't need a TV licence.

Yes, a bit 'tongue-in-cheek', but you get my drift!



#25 Icey

Icey

    One Carb Or Two?

  • Traders
  • PipPipPipPipPipPipPip
  • 1,490 posts
  • Location: Wiltshire

Posted 13 June 2019 - 12:27 PM

At least in the nick they will not have to worry about having to choose between eating, heating, watching TV and paying their rates.

Lets not forget that this is the generation that has access to triple-locked pensions, many will have defined-benefits workplace or private pensions as well as benefited from an era that allowed them to buy houses for a minimal multiple of their salary (which will likely have been paid off for decades already).

 

I don't think anyone is happy with this change, but not all pensioners are destitute. Many are very wealthy and in far more stable positions than the generations that will follow them.

 

Many in my generation (despite being closer to 40 than 30, I'm apparently a Millennial) see a future with pensions pushed way out into our 70s or 80s (i.e. we'll likely never see them) and widespread degradation of the services we'll have to rely on when we reach pensionable age.

 

I'm envious of pensioners of this current generation, most didn't face the horrors of war but benefited from all of the economic growth and social liberation that followed. We're regressing, I just hope we can stop the rot before it's too late.



#26 r3k1355

r3k1355

    Super Mini Mad

  • Members
  • PipPipPipPipPipPip
  • 585 posts
  • Local Club: East Anglia

Posted 14 June 2019 - 09:59 AM

Yes just look at all the folk who bought up vast swathes of housing stock as BTL investments.

 

Alot of them are retired and happy sitting back while the younger generation rents the houses they own.



#27 Homersimpson

Homersimpson

    One Carb Or Two?

  • Members
  • PipPipPipPipPipPipPip
  • 797 posts
  • Location: Redditch

Posted 14 June 2019 - 11:01 AM

Yes just look at all the folk who bought up vast swathes of housing stock as BTL investments.

 

Alot of them are retired and happy sitting back while the younger generation rents the houses they own.

Of course it has nothing to do with the younger generation (and yes I am one) not being able to save, having cars on finance, expensive phones etc?

 

And course what everyone forgets is that house prices are high now but intrest rates are low whereas in the past it was the other way around, while I accept that previously houses were still relativly cheaper the main problem that prevents people getting on the housing ladder is that they won't make sacrifices to buy a house, they want it all and a place to put it.



#28 rich_959

rich_959

    Super Mini Mad

  • Just Joined
  • PipPipPipPipPipPip
  • 568 posts
  • Location: East Yorks

Posted 14 June 2019 - 11:48 AM

I'm in my late 30's and we (me and the Mrs) stretched ourselves financially to buy our first house with a very small deposit and therefore not a fantastic interest rate. Bought carefully, something we could add value to and worked hard at improving it over 5 years. We then had a good amount of equity and moved into something bigger, with a better mortgage deal. Anyway, the point is that we have many friends around the same age who are still renting. They earn comparable money to us, but have always rented. The drum is banged about not being able to afford it, can't save for a deposit etc, etc. But they always have two new financed cars every couple of years, big holidays, fancy TV's, £100 a month iphones, blah, blah. It's a choice - and one we're all entitled too, and while I do believe that many can't afford to get on the market, there are a lot of people moaning about it who are/were able to do so, but have chosen not to make the sacrifice required. Perfectly fine to make that choice, but stop pretending it's imposed on you because of the government, society, or a privileged prior generation. 


Edited by rich_959, 14 June 2019 - 11:49 AM.


#29 mab01uk

mab01uk

    Moved Into The Garage

  • Members
  • PipPipPipPipPipPipPipPipPipPipPip
  • 11,778 posts
  • Local Club: Mini Cooper Register

Posted 14 June 2019 - 11:50 AM

I have NEVER bought or owned a brand new car, always had second hand with no finance, saved for years when young for my first deposit on a small run down property in the mid-1980's, we had no furniture to begin with so we sat on garden chairs and had an old b&w TV, s/h bed/mattress, fridge, cooker, etc most donated as hand me downs from friends, family or cheap from the local free ads newspaper. Then in the John Major era our interest rates went through the roof and we had to work long extra hours to pay the huge monthly rises in our mortgage payments for several years. No holidays for years at home or abroad, any spare money or time was spent improving the place to help climb the property ladder.

Most of the young people I live and work with now have brand new cars (eg. BMW/Mercedes/Audi, etc) on finance soon after passing their test, have several holidays a year to exotic places, have the latest phones, big screen TV, Sky/Netflix/Amazon prime and everything on monthly payments but are not willing to give any of these 'essentials' to life up, while complaining they can't save a deposit or find a ready to move in property with all mod cons that needs no hard diy work doing and that we had it easy...... :lol:


Edited by mab01uk, 14 June 2019 - 12:20 PM.


#30 Cooperman

Cooperman

    Uncle Cooperman, Voted Mr TMF 2011

  • TMF+ Member
  • PipPipPipPipPipPipPipPipPipPipPip
  • 23,014 posts
  • Location: Cambs.
  • Local Club: MCR, HAMOC, Chelmsford M.C.

Posted 15 June 2019 - 01:12 PM

I am now in my late 70's and get a free TV licence. Yes, I am fortunate that I have a fairly comfortable life style with a reasonable pension and some investment properties. It is not the same for all older people and I know many who, whilst they don't qualify for pension credits, they do struggle on the small pensions.

 

These people have worked all their lives and paid their taxes. Nw in their old age one of the few perks available to them is to be removed. It is simply a disgrace.

 

On the subject of we 'oldies' being homeowners we all struggled to buy our first homes. I bought mine in 1968. My wife and I went without holidays and things like new TV's, new furniture, hire purchase goods, expensive designer clothes. we worked hard and I did lots of overtime and we saved hard. Then we put down our 20% deposit and got a mortgage with around 8% interest rate. It was not easy then, but it was what we wanted.

 

It does seem that now those who say they can't save for a house deposit (10% these days with a very low interest rate) still want their flat screen TV's, Ipads, the latest mobile phones, latest fashion clothes, holidays abroad, cars on finance or lease-plans, expensive nights out, etc. I know that this may be a generalisation, but it is how it is perceived by many. The entire life ethos seems to have changed. 

 

Anyway, wait until we have Corbyn as PM, then we'll all be FUBAR.






0 user(s) are reading this topic

0 members, 0 guests, 0 anonymous users