Obtaining a TV licence as a ccer

[mayalld]

Okay, cancel your TV license, discard your TV(s) and set top boxes and inform them, and count how many letters you get afterwards stating that the address is unlicensed, then you'll understand what I mean!!! There is no law that says you have to own a TV, but there's nothing stopping them using their database to claim that you're breaking the law by being unlicensed, even though you have no reception equipment...

 

That is my main gripe with them, they force a license upon you, even if you have proved to them several times that there is no effing TV capable of receiving in the house!!!

 

And, no, they can't do anything without proof that you are or are not watching a TV, but they do like knocking (heavily) on your door a few times a month to remind you that they are incompetent fools who are using info from a central database that isn't always kept up to date...

 

No they DON'T force a licence upon you. They may well send you lots of letters and people because they don't think anybody has no TV, but at the end of the day if you have no TV, you need no licence, and they cannot force you to have one.

 

I once decided not to have a TV, and got the letters. After the 4th letter, I simply wrote to them explaining that I had already told them that I had no TV, that I had no intention of getting one in the near future, and that I would let them know if I did get one, and that their letters were a waste of their time and mine.

 

I got a letter back saying that they would send no more letters for 2 years.

[Artimis]

I thought cold calling was illegal now?

 

If they come banging your door a few times a month, thats harrasment.

There is a web group set up to deal with this. It outlines your legal position and last time i read it, i got the impression they have no legal right to bang your door or indeed keep hassling you once you have told them you dont require a license.

[carlt]

Okay, cancel your TV license, discard your TV(s) and set top boxes and inform them, and count how many letters you get afterwards stating that the address is unlicensed, then you'll understand what I mean!!! There is no law that says you have to own a TV, but there's nothing stopping them using their database to claim that you're breaking the law by being unlicensed, even though you have no reception equipment...

 

That is my main gripe with them, they force a license upon you, even if you have proved to them several times that there is no effing TV capable of receiving in the house!!!

 

And, no, they can't do anything without proof that you are or are not watching a TV, but they do like knocking (heavily) on your door a few times a month to remind you that they are incompetent fools who are using info from a central database that isn't always kept up to date...

Surely, if you don't have a TV then TV licence reminders are merely treated as the rest of the junk mail that is shoved through your door?

 

When I had no TV (most of my adult life) I only once had an inspector knock on my door. I told him I didn't have a TV and he never came back. Safestle UK will never accept that I will never buy plastic windows, however, and still knock, once a month.

 

The TV licence is a tax that you have to pay, if youhave a TV. If you don't want to pay, don't have a telly.

 

If junk mail and door knocking are your idea of harassment then Sky or Virgin are far more guilty than the BBC.

[twocvbloke]

No they DON'T force a licence upon you. They may well send you lots of letters and people because they don't think anybody has no TV, but at the end of the day if you have no TV, you need no licence, and they cannot force you to have one.

 

I once decided not to have a TV, and got the letters. After the 4th letter, I simply wrote to them explaining that I had already told them that I had no TV, that I had no intention of getting one in the near future, and that I would let them know if I did get one, and that their letters were a waste of their time and mine.

 

I got a letter back saying that they would send no more letters for 2 years.

 

The point I'm making is they are using harassment to enforce something that shouldn't have to be enforced in the manner that they use, whether or not they actually have an inspector allowed in over the doorstep checking the house for any reception equipment, they make people without TVs feel like criminals when they are not doing anything wrong!!!

 

As I say, it's an enforced tax, whether you're using a TV or not...

[mayalld]

The point I'm making is they are using harassment to enforce something that shouldn't have to be enforced in the manner that they use, whether or not they actually have an inspector allowed in over the doorstep checking the house for any reception equipment, they make people without TVs feel like criminals when they are not doing anything wrong!!!

 

As I say, it's an enforced tax, whether you're using a TV or not...

 

Only in your mind.

[twocvbloke]

I thought cold calling was illegal now?

 

If they come banging your door a few times a month, thats harrasment.

There is a web group set up to deal with this. It outlines your legal position and last time i read it, i got the impression they have no legal right to bang your door or indeed keep hassling you once you have told them you dont require a license.

 

That's the problem, because they're a government body, they have their own set of rules don't they? If you wanted to challenge them in a court of law, they're the ones with the big buck lawyers and will most likely win any case against them (unless it ends up in the media, in which they're made to look incompetent and back down)...

 

As for the site set up for the issues with TVL, I know it well, I've even handed over printouts from there to the harassment officers that pestered me, but as I say, if you're unlicensed, they just refuse to leave you alone...

 

Anyway, I've got stuff to do now, so, I'll leave you all to discuss this...

 

(I shall also point out, this house DOES have a TV license, in the mother's name, when I was living on my own, I didn't have one cos I didn't need one)

[Derek R.]

Two years - why two years? Is this a pre-decided date when to begin pestering again. Chinese water torture comes to mind.

 

I'm with 2cvbloke on this, but why oh why do people feel a need for a television? I promise you will not miss it one bit - least of all the government megaphone which is all the BBC now is. And PAY them for the privelege??? Books, Radio, a laptop, BBCi and the equivalent ITV facility should suffice adequately - and if you want any balanced information on world events - you need the internet - not TV - it's 24/7 drivel. Main Stream Media governs peoples minds through informing them what the media bosses want them to know/think/believe. BREAK THE CHAINS.

 

Derek

[mayalld]

That's the problem, because they're a government body, they have their own set of rules don't they? If you wanted to challenge them in a court of law, they're the ones with the big buck lawyers and will most likely win any case against them (unless it ends up in the media, in which they're made to look incompetent and back down)...

 

No they won't win.

 

The fact is that if you don't have a TV, you don't need a licence, and no amount of lawyers will change that.

 

Claiming otherwise is just silly.

 

 

Two years - why two years? Is this a pre-decided date when to begin pestering again. Chinese water torture comes to mind.

 

Given that I was in rented accomodation on a 6 month tenancy, it seems reasonable to assume that I might have moved out within 2 years, and that the new tenant might have a TV.

[carlt]

Two years - why two years? Is this a pre-decided date when to begin pestering again. Chinese water torture comes to mind.

Sorry but I think comparing a bit of junk mail and the odd knock on the door, to torture and harrassment, is quite simply paranoia.

 

I had no TV, or licence, for years and I'm afraid I never counted the junk mail that came through the door because it went, unopened, in the same file as the junk that refused to accept that I didn't want private health care, kebabs delivered to my door or the services of an estate agent.

 

Maybe I should have counted the number of letters, so I could pull my hair out with worry that the Armed BBC Police were going to batter my door down and murder my family, but I had far more interesting things to do.

 

If it is a forced tax, btw, can we assume that 2CV succumbed and bought a licence, despite having no TV?

Edited July 22, 2010 by carlt

[ymu]

The BBC show almost as many adverts as the commercial chanels and im sick of them.

 

...

They do, and they have been in trouble for it, but: they don't interrupt programmes, films or major sporting events with them; all the products they advertise are free to access for any UK-based individual; and the worst that can happen is your kids finding out about CBeebies/CBBC (and if you're vulnerable to pester-power, that'll save you a fortune).

[blackrose]

I'm with 2cvbloke on this, but why oh why do people feel a need for a television? I promise you will not miss it one bit - least of all the government megaphone which is all the BBC now is. And PAY them for the privelege??? Books, Radio, a laptop, BBCi and the equivalent ITV facility should suffice adequately - and if you want any balanced information on world events - you need the internet - not TV - it's 24/7 drivel. Main Stream Media governs peoples minds through informing them what the media bosses want them to know/think/believe. BREAK THE CHAINS.

 

Derek

Why are so many people who don't have TVs so judgemental about people who do?

 

I enjoy watching TV. Yes, there's a lot of drivel on TV if you choose to watch it, but there are also a lot of very interesting, informative, educational and entertaining programmes too.

 

I also think it's ironic that most of those fundamentalist anti-TV extremists, end up watching TV on their computers!

[Ritchard]

The great appeal of TV is that is is unthinking entertainment. I can sit there and do nothing, think nothing and be a gormless moron. Exactly what Im looking for after a hard days work!

[blackrose]

The great appeal of TV is that is is unthinking entertainment. I can sit there and do nothing, think nothing and be a gormless moron. Exactly what Im looking for after a hard days work!

 

It's true that TV viewers are generally passive, but there's a lot of thought provoking TV. I've watched some amazing stuff on BBC4.

 

My point is that saying that TV is all drivel is nonsense. A lot of it is, but then a lot of music is drivel, most films are a waste of time and many books are badly written, but would anyone seriously suggest that we shouldn't listen to music, watch films or read books. Perhaps just the Taliban!

Edited July 22, 2010 by blackrose

[NB Alnwick]

I am sure that anyone calling the TV licensing authority and asking if they need a licence for their boat (which is their only residence) will be told that they do need a licence. They may even be told to use a PO Box or the address of a friend or relative as the licensed address. However, there is, at present, no procedure in place for licensing liveaboards who continuously cruise and the authority does not have a system for checking if the continuous cruiser has licence nor does it have provision for enforcement in such cases.

 

So the answer is that you may pay them if you want to and can find a way of doing so - if you choose not to, and use your TV without a licence you may be breaking the law but it is extremely unlikely that any action will ever be taken.

[tillergirl]

CCers don't have broadband, and there is no (genuinely) unlimited data package for 3G yet. We buy 7GB for £25, and an hour of video is ~1GB. Much cheaper to buy a licence if you wish to be law-abiding.

 

DVLA data is needed by the police should you do anything naughty/lethal with your vehicle. The only naughty thing you can do with your TV which would involve TVL is not having a licence, which isn't an issue if you're trying to buy a licence without a fixed address to attach it to.

 

duely reprimanded

[AlanH]

It's true that TV viewers are generally passive, but there's a lot of thought provoking TV. I've watched some amazing stuff on BBC4.

Shaun the Sheep for me!

[ymu]

duely reprimanded

Wasn't supposed to be a reprimand! Sorry.

[Derek R.]

Why are so many people who don't have TVs so judgemental about people who do?

 

Are they? As you have quoted me, I must state that living with the in-law who is over seventy and who is the home owner and is responsible for the licence for this premises, he receives his TV licence free of charge. It is on more than it is off, and the state of his mind may be some indication how TV has influence. Wall to wall sport with him, or animal kingdom, or cartoons, or police stop camera, or . . Grumpy, miserable, argumentative, obstructive, ignorant, arrogant, rude, and occassionaly destructive out of spite . . . Mind you, he has a very low opinion of me also. Largely because I get things done whereas he messes up. Never been a happy bunny it seems.

 

As a child, I lapped up everything that was shown. Family communication was the dregs. Escape to the cathode ray tube - or walk the streets. Since marriage came along TV took a hike - costs too much. Fifteen years without, twelve living afloat - no TV. No internet. No cell-phones. We were isolated, and it was great. All we thought about was where we would be boating next, used public telephones for contact, and radio and taped music for entertainmment when friends didn't call. We wrote letters and read books.

 

I sometimes stop to look into the living room at what the rest of the family are watching. Flog-it, house makeovers, garden makeovers, cooking stuff, Holby City. A couple of minutes is enough - I'm out of there. Wallis & Grommit I can watch on DVD, and more besides. On the internet I can seek and find what I am interested in, and perhaps contribute opinion or protest. The only protest available on TV is the 'off' switch. You can write and maybe complain, got about as much chance of getting a response as writing to a Minister - through an MP of course, and we all are proud of them. Even my youngest gets fed-up with CBBC and comes up to get on-line. Or if not that, switch on some Wii thing - it was fitness this-morning. The tennis is fun, as are some others, but I get bored and seek some form of communication. Don't have a sporting bone in my body - though M/C Trials riding I find good fun - riding that is, not watching. Hence my somewhat inordinate number of posts on here - it's learning other peoples thoughts and opinions, and what they are based upon that fascinates. And a little experience shared sometimes helps others.

 

Judgemental? You be the judge of that.

 

Licences. Enter into a contract, and you submit to abide by that contract. Failure to do so allows them to persecute and prosecute. Not to enter into such a contract gives them no power over you - but you may not be able to fulfil certain activities, or gain certain access . . .

 

Derek

[ymu]

Life would be so much better if we were all exactly the same.

[Laurie Booth]

Just buy a B&W licence

[WotEver]

Just buy a B&W licence

[timetraveller]

Are they? As you have quoted me, I must state that living with the in-law who is over seventy and who is the home owner and is responsible for the licence for this premises, he receives his TV licence free of charge. It is on more than it is off, and the state of his mind may be some indication how TV has influence. Wall to wall sport with him, or animal kingdom, or cartoons, or police stop camera, or . . Grumpy, miserable, argumentative, obstructive, ignorant, arrogant, rude, and occassionaly destructive out of spite . . . Mind you, he has a very low opinion of me also. Largely because I get things done whereas he messes up. Never been a happy bunny it seems.

 

As a child, I lapped up everything that was shown. Family communication was the dregs. Escape to the cathode ray tube - or walk the streets. Since marriage came along TV took a hike - costs too much. Fifteen years without, twelve living afloat - no TV. No internet. No cell-phones. We were isolated, and it was great. All we thought about was where we would be boating next, used public telephones for contact, and radio and taped music for entertainmment when friends didn't call. We wrote letters and read books.

 

I sometimes stop to look into the living room at what the rest of the family are watching. Flog-it, house makeovers, garden makeovers, cooking stuff, Holby City. A couple of minutes is enough - I'm out of there. Wallis & Grommit I can watch on DVD, and more besides. On the internet I can seek and find what I am interested in, and perhaps contribute opinion or protest. The only protest available on TV is the 'off' switch. You can write and maybe complain, got about as much chance of getting a response as writing to a Minister - through an MP of course, and we all are proud of them. Even my youngest gets fed-up with CBBC and comes up to get on-line. Or if not that, switch on some Wii thing - it was fitness this-morning. The tennis is fun, as are some others, but I get bored and seek some form of communication. Don't have a sporting bone in my body - though M/C Trials riding I find good fun - riding that is, not watching. Hence my somewhat inordinate number of posts on here - it's learning other peoples thoughts and opinions, and what they are based upon that fascinates. And a little experience shared sometimes helps others.

 

Judgemental? You be the judge of that.

 

Licences. Enter into a contract, and you submit to abide by that contract. Failure to do so allows them to persecute and prosecute. Not to enter into such a contract gives them no power over you - but you may not be able to fulfil certain activities, or gain certain access . . .

 

Derek

 

 

Mmmm, I think you need a licence for using the RADIO........

[carlt]

Mmmm, I think you need a licence for using the RADIO........

They scrapped the radio licence years ao.

[cotswoldsman]

I am sure that anyone calling the TV licensing authority and asking if they need a licence for their boat (which is their only residence) will be told that they do need a licence. They may even be told to use a PO Box or the address of a friend or relative as the licensed address. However, there is, at present, no procedure in place for licensing liveaboards who continuously cruise and the authority does not have a system for checking if the continuous cruiser has licence nor does it have provision for enforcement in such cases.

 

So the answer is that you may pay them if you want to and can find a way of doing so - if you choose not to, and use your TV without a licence you may be breaking the law but it is extremely unlikely that any action will ever be taken.

 

Ah think I will take the same attitude with my BW licence as they will never catch me if I keep moving!!

[blackrose]

Are they?

Judgemental? You be the judge of that.

Well many non-TV watchers seem to criticise those who do, so it can come across as judgemental..

 

Your observations regarding your TV watching in-law do not apply to all of those who watch TV, I'm sure you will agree.

Edited July 22, 2010 by blackrose