[Closed] Not paying your TV Licence

Licence fee refuseniks are as morally bankrupt as tax avoiders & benefit cheats.

Oh please. Stop eating your daily mail. 😆

'

But I only watch iPlayer'.

Oh, well that changes EVERYTHING doesn't it?
Er, no, actually, it doesn't.
You're still a parasite - morally, if not legally.

I hope the licence fee goes up so that more of us can get to watch stuff for free, knowing that morally upstanding citizens like yourself are helping to enable us to do so. 😉

The Daily Mail?

How very dare you!
😀

trail_rat - Member
what i find hard to believe is that the fines for not paying it are more than the penalty id get for speeding and driving without insurance.

Conditional offers of fixed penalty (COFP) are offered for Speeding, which at the 'lowest' level are (now) £100, and £300 for no insurance. Court fines are typically significantly more. Fines account for the gravity of the offence, previous convictions and ability to pay.

Normal course of action, at least in Scotland, is for TV license defaulters, to be offered a COFP which I believe is £75, if it goes to court the fine will be more but I'd guess that it rarely is more than the average speeding fine the same court issues, and probably never more than the average no insurance.

Going back a while I was told that if you had equipment with an RF converter you needed a licence. So back then if you had a TV and video you had to have a licence. A TV and a monitor no licence.
I think there's a bit of a problem with the term 'TV Licence' bit like the term 'road tax'.

I'm quite sure that the BBC would like to restrict access to i-player to those who'd paid a licence fee, but the cost and problems deter them. If that happened I'd stop watching.

As it stands, I'm within the law. And someone thinks I'm a parasite.

Is the bbc careful to make best use of those licence fees...

http://www.theguardian.com/media/2013/jul/11/bbc-bbc-trust

I think Rusty Spanner is just a bit special!

It wouldn't have to be good, only popular,

Fair point.

the mouth breathers lap it up.

LOL.

Aye so 75 quid is more or less than 60 quid for a speeding ticket ?

trail_rat - you're out out date, speeding "tickets" are no longer £60... ...a 'standard ticket' is now £100.

Last time someone i knew got one they were 60 quid- when did that change ? seems cameras and police are never enforcing the limits anymore anyway. Probably out helping find tv licence evaders

Just because the majority see a behaviour as being acceptable doesn't mean I have to follow that behaviour. I sleep easy at night and if my example inspires others to alter their behaviour all the better. Don't try tarring me with the same brush that's been liberally applied to you as a means of legitimising your choices.

I did once many years ago go through the rigmarole of calling TV licensing and explaining i did not have a licence nor have i ever owned a TV nor will i ever own a TV and that was fine, till they sent out an inspector who wished to gain access to my house to ensure i did not have a licence, why should i let them in to my house?.
**** them.

I find this hard to understand.

In my personal experience, people who don't own a Television never miss an opportunity to mercilessly bang on about the fact.

Seems odd then that you wouldn't welcome a knock at the door and the chance to tell another new person about your TV free life.

In my experience, people with a telly never miss an opportunity to bang on about some mindless bollocks they wasted the previous evening on. And then refuse to believe that you have no idea what they are on about.

In my personal experience people who frequent and post snidey and irksome comments on internet forums are generally like that in real life.

Crack on

BTW : I'm currently listening to Stephen Duffy : The Jazz House on Radio Scotland...for free! , imagine that eh?, no TV and listens to Jazz......sanctimonious eh?

If there was a radio license I'd happily buy one.

Clearly not watching TV diminishes your sense of humour too.

Crack on eh.

seems cameras and police are never enforcing the limits anymore anyway. Probably out helping find tv licence evaders

[url= http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/bbc/10256679/TV-licence-offences-account-for-one-in-ten-UK-court-cases.html ]You may be right...[/url]

Trail_rat the announcement was made probably in May, I think they were due to take effect in July. As I understand it the police don't get involved in TV licensing at all. Pop over to pepipoo though - there you will find a steady stream of people who have all been wronged by the camera/cops.

From sbob's link I guess that the English system isn't dealing with TV license as Fixed Penalties. That presumably means that on top of the fine you pay the victim surcharge!

6 Years without a licence.

6 Years of threatening letters and inspections.

I was working flat out and travelling the world on conferences.

No tv in the house or receiving equipment.

I'm paying now as I have a tv and watch the footy/news.

I have not watched a BBC channel since 2002!

I want a choice and rather watch Sky than BBC 5hit.

Torminalis - Member
the programming is not worth nearly £150
Radio 4 is worth that on its own.

Quite. I can't believe I was the only person awake last night as Mr Fry, Graham Linehan and a number of other worthies discussed the use of the word, "Fuk" (fekkin'swear filter) on Radio 4.

Sparkling dialogue, interesting historical debate and Stephen Fry saying the four star word a lot.

I don't have a TV licence because I don't need one. Mainly I use the TV for playing games and watching shows and movies streamed from my media centre or netflix. Occasionally might watch something on iplayer or 4od. Opting out was relatively painless, I just filled in a form on the internet.

As an aside I don't agree with the way the BBC is funded or run. Recent events have exposed many of the executives and stars as nothing more than pigs at the ever-replenished trough, and I'm quite happy not to be contributing to their cause.

Brand new house, never been occupied.
[center][b]THE LETTER STILL COMETH![/b][/center]

I personally think it should be illegal to threaten people through automated letters. Copy and Paste legal action by robots is killing society 🙂

The only reason we still have a tv licence is because of mrshora. I always buy the dvd/series post event.

I think tv now is shit especially bbeb news.

Aljazeera is better

Frankenstein - Member

I want a choice and rather watch Sky than BBC 5hit.

aaah a Danny Dyer fan then 😉

Nice one Metalheart, the old ones are still the best.

I went without a TV (& license) for a while and got sick to the back teeth with the constant letters and general hassle that I receieved from the licensing authority, they just never stopped.

When I went back to TV (& license) owning it was a relief when the harrassment finally stopped.

No TV and no TV licence here. There is SO MUCH crap programming out there it's just not worth having a TV. iPlayer and Radio 4 are your friends.

I demand a refund for "Fags, mags and bags" or whatever it's called. Utter pish.

Disagree. "Sanjay! Separate this asteroid of jellysnakes into its jellysnake component parts!" is funny.

I demand a refund for [s]"Fags, mags and bags"[/s] The Now Show or whatever it's called. Utter pish.

I went without a TV (& license) for a while and got sick to the back teeth with the constant letters and general hassle that I receieved from the licensing authority, they just never stopped.
When I went back to TV (& license) owning it was a relief when the harrassment finally stopped.

I've never experienced it personally, but honestly, how bad is this "harassment" ??

They send you a letter every now and then, which you throw in the bin.

Possibly someone comes round and you tell them you don't have a TV.

(And that's if you haven't be online and registered the fact you don't have a TV?)

It surely can't be much worse than that ?

Is it being over exaggerated for effect maybe.

I still don't understand why they don't punt radio 3 off FM and give us 6 musis to listen to in the car.

Have you seen French/Italian/American TV (delete as appropriate) The BBC is why the "other" channels/providers are good at what they do, without the BBC frankly it might go Pete Tong, another reason for the BBC.

Well in Australia they manage to have two perfectly respectable state funded stations and radio without any call for an additional levy from TV owners.

I still don't understand why they don't punt radio 3 off FM and give us 6 musis to listen to in the car.

Would definitely like to see 6 music on FM, but not instead of radio 3.

I've not had a TV nor license for about 7 years now, just watch some iPlayer on demand - which IMO for anything other than live sport (which you get very little of on the BBC anyway) is preferable. If you are going to charge for anything charge for that... Not seen a letter from the TV licencing folks for quite some time.

The big red final demand for payment ones i
That come through the mail are a bit shitty.

Was tempted to go to bbc centre with that one and throw it at them.

It is one step short of harassment. If i sent out unsolicited letter like that id get pulled up. They work on the assumption that you breath therefore you must have a tv.

Trail rat, have you been online and told them that you don't have a tv ?

From what others have said, that's all you need to do.

(You could do it on your way to the iPlayer to watch stuff someone else paid for 😉 )

after several letters, i just phoned them up and told them i don't have a TV the chap was ever so pleasant and assured me i wouldn't be hassled but may be checked on now and again.

probably won't happen because, they automatically think you are a screwball if you don't own a tellybox....

i always keep a blood stained leather apron hung by the door just in case though..

iPlayer and Radio 4 are your friends

Mid thirties, never had a license. We never had one growing up either. As my old man didn't agree to it either.

I gave up watching TV years ago because...well, it's a shite waste of time. I do get the odd letter through the door for 'the occupier', but that isn't my name so it goes straight in the recycling.

To be honest, I think a lot of the BBC's programming is very good but the way it's funded is bang out of order. Like a previous poster said, one shouldn't have to prove that you don't watch TV.
The company they use to collect the fee are bullies. I once caught one of their 'inspectors' in our living room when I lived in a shared student house years ago. According to the girl who opened the door (my housemate) this guy had just pushed her out of the way and barged into the house. Needless to say I unceremoniously ejected the scumbag 🙂

The easiest thing is just to ignore them. Save your time and effort whilst letting them waste theirs.

Also, I'm not sure of the actual figures but most, if not all court cases for watching TV without a license are from confessions. Ie, the bully threatens/tricks the homeowner into signing the confession when they visit. There's no way they can prove you were actually watching TV. All those 'detector vans' and the like are just scare tactics.

You can also write them a simple (legally binding) letter stating that you do not allow them, or their agents on your property. So that will put an end to the visits. You'll still get the letters of course. Unless you serve The Royal Mail with one as well 🙂

I'm beginning to wonder if I dreamt it but did anyone else hear Stephen Fry on Radio4 last night, hosting a program all about the word, "Quadruple Star"? Australians couldn't give a 4X. Can't believe I can't utter the word here but hopefully you get the drift.

Great, open bit of programming with some genuinely exciting back and forth. Was slightly shocking at first ( just 'cos it's Radio4 ) but as I plied the roads in the dark, the word lost its shock-value over the course of multiple repetitions.

I'm happy to pay the fee.

Jambourgie.
How would you know if the BBC's output is any good or not?

According to you, you don't watch TV.

We're in an interesting situation.
moved house, occupier letters already there from TV license. Phoned them up, moved license to new address, sorted. Letters still keep coming though, the last one was all red and threatened action. Phoned them, don't worry they said, it's all sorted.

I noted that the address is slightly wrong on the red letters. We're the last house on ....Drive but the letters are addressed to the same number on .... Drive South which doesn't actually exist.

I'll be interested to see how it pans out. Probably nowhere is my guess.

What I can't understand is the massive payoffs to Beeb Exec's after they have been constantly asking for rises in the licence fee 'or services and jobs will be cut'.

Especially when its £1m payoff and theres evidence that they were paying out over and above what the persons contract stated.

On the plus side I met 'thesanityassassin' off here for the first time when he was collecting for TV licencing and I didn't have a licence.

Reminds me -years ago I had a phone call at work from mrshora

"TV licence man here"

- and dont let him in

"Oh I thought I had to"

- Tell him to eff off

"too late"

FFS 😆

I've never experienced it personally, but honestly, how bad is this "harassment" ??
They send you a letter every now and then, which you throw in the bin.

They sent my wife's elderly grandma several harshly worded letters threatening criminal prosecution, even though she has a TV license. She was extremely worried/upset.

I've never experienced it personally, but honestly, how bad is this "harassment" ??
They send you a letter every now and then, which you throw in the bin.

Then they send a big bloke like thesanityassassin.

I rented my house out to some tenants and as it was my "home" previously it was still in my name. Tenants moved in, didn'd pay the licence for the year they were there, I cancelled my DD, a year later I got a knock at the door from the TV licencing people asking for a whole years payment.. I told them to take a small hike. A week later i got a nasty letter from them, I challenged it, it asked for all sorts of tenants details etc. that I wasn't about to divulge.. upshot was I got a fine!! Gits.
However I do think BBC4 and on occasion BBC2 is well worth the fee.

I rented my house out to some tenants

Was it furnished (did you provide a TV?)

If so then it was your responsibility to pay for the license.

If not, why would you pay someone else's fine. Seems mad to me.

Everyone should stop paying the illegal TV Licence.
The BBC has shown itself to actively harbour paedophiles. That should be enough to make them undeserving of your cash, nevermind the hugely biased 'news' that's nothing short of propaganda, their acceptance of money from other sources and the disgusting bullying tactics of their fee collectors.

Isn't it about time the BBC got with the times, and offered subscription packages like Sky do? IE; 'full' package which covers everything, or basic packages with sport, music, drama etc 'add ons'.

That would offer far better viewer choice, and far better value for money. Don't want to watch particular things? Don't pay for them. Being told to cough up £150 for a load of stuff you'll never watch/listen to is just extortionate.

As for crap like Celebrities Cum Dancing etc; using advertising to pay for the content production would be great; audiences of such dross don't have long attention spans anyway, and ads would break things down into manageable chunks for them. 🙂

If you pay for Sky/Virgin/Talktalk then why should you have to pay the BBC for delivering the service?
It's Sky/Virgin/Talktalk who are and surely part of the fees you pay them covers your "fee" to the BBC..

If you pay for Sky/Virgin/Talktalk then why should you have to pay the BBC for delivering the service?

To make the programs.

It's Sky/Virgin/Talktalk who are and surely part of the fees you pay them covers your "fee" to the BBC..

Exactly the opposite in fact.

Nothing you pay Sky goes to the BBC.

But the BBC pay Sky £5M per year retransmit BBC content over the Sky Network.

Nope, provided the property "unfurnished"

Never mind, it's gone now, so too the tenants.. 😀

Can't see any reason why you would have chosen to pay a fine for someone else in that case.

Unless you didn't want to attract attention because you were renting the house out "unofficially" without changing to the right sort of Mortgage/Insurance etc and not declaring the income 😉

You rolled over and paid a fine? Why? What evidence did they have of you watching tv without a licence? It's the responsibility of the tenant to pay for a licence, not the property owner.

Sounds like you were done over mate. i'd have told them to do one.

You need to make sure that the property is covered by a valid TV Licence if you have provided a means for your tenants to watch or record television programmes as they're being shown on TV. This includes the use of devices such as a TV, computer, mobile phone, games console, digital box or DVD/VHS recorder.
The TV Licence is your responsibility if you installed the TV, unless the tenancy agreement specifies that it’s the tenants’ responsibility.

http://www.tvlicensing.co.uk/check-if-you-need-one/business-and-organisations/residential-landlords-aud15/

Nope, provided the property "unfurnished"

Yep. You were done over. Should have gone to SpecSavers.