Not for the first time we have heard how innocent non-TV users are being terrorised in their homes by perhaps the most heinous TV Licensing letter so far.
The letter, shown above, is designed to intimidate TV Licensing non-respondents by threatening them with court action, for an offence they probably haven't committed. Their only "crime" is to have ignored TV Licensing's previous requests for information - despite the Licensing Authority, the BBC, having confirmed that non-TV users are under no obligation to respond to any of TV Licensing's mailings.
The law requires that a licence is obtained for any device that is "installed or used" for "receiving or recording a television programme at the same time (or virtually the same time) as it is by members of the public". If equipment isn't used for that purpose then the property does not need to be licensed - end of.
The BBC and TV Licensing would do well to re-read and understand that legislation, which was set in a plane well above their own. Unfortunately TV Licensing, with its misguided impression that no-one could possibly survive without televisual stimulation, tend to assume that anyone failing to pay the fee is an evader.
For anyone left in any doubt at all, the way the BBC and TV Licensing enforce the licence fee is truly despicable. As we have seen time and time again they hide behind legal jargon, half-truths and veiled threats to coerce licence fee payment, often where none is due. If you ask them any uncomfortable questions about the seemingly indiscriminate way they enforce the fee then they hide behind the law to avoid answering. This is despite the BBC Trust saying it would take action to temper TV Licensing's accusatory tone.
Imagine your elderly relatives, enjoying a perfectly legal TV-free existence, received a letter like this designed to put them at their wits' end. I for one would not be happy.
5 comments:
Television Licencing threatening mail.
The threatening mail originates from a source in east London, Team 365, Unit 80, London Industrial Estate, Roding Road, Becton London, E6 6LS. It is a small industral area at the far end of Roding Road. There is a gate that is open and unattended and is the only way to drive onto the Estate. Number 80 is a short way down on the right. It is where the "Enforcement Officers" hang out, as I found out when one of them turned his car around and wanted to know why I was taking photographs of his car and the area. Team 365 is or was associated with another with the name Equipe 52 and has its offices in a shady looking building in the Grays Inn area. The infomation can be found on the internet.
Entered by Alvin.
Useful information Alvin. Is that where Proximity London, who previously unceremoniously booted for telling lies in TVL mailings, run their operation?
Does this mean you need a licence to watch the ITVplayer online for live programmes? Not that I would get one. I've always needed air, food, sleep etc, but I've never needed a TV licence.
Technically speaking, you do need a licence to watch live-streamed content via ITV Player.
I believe they describe needing a license for 'near live' streaming, which I think is watching a program whilst it is still being broadcast for 'real tv' viewers; as long as you are watching after the broadcast proper has completed, you do *not* need a license.
:-D
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