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This blog is to highlight the unjust persecution of legitimate non-TV users at the hands of TV Licensing. These people do not require a licence and are entitled to live without the unnecessary stress and inconvenience caused by TV Licensing's correspondence and employees.

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Thursday 31 October 2013

TV Licensing: The Return of Mr Grumpy

TV Licensing's Mr Grumpy in January 2012.

After a two year sabbatical TV Licensing resident "hard man" Mr Grumpy has reappeared on our radar after being captured on camera in Halifax this morning.

You might remember that Mr Grumpy, who appears an aggressive twat by all accounts, first attracted our interest at the start of 2012, when he rode roughshod over TV Licensing rules by threatening the legally-licence-free occupier of a property with a search warrant.

That entire episode was captured on film so there is no doubt at all about the menacing way Mr Grumpy, who is employed by TV Licensing contractor Capita Business Services Ltd, conducted himself on that particular doorstep. As misfortune would have it TV Licensing did later execute a search warrant at the same property, but it uncovered no evidence whatsoever of unlicensed TV reception.

Since then the BBC has released documents (see pages 12 & 13) showing Capita's Colin Jones refuting the idea that Mr Grumpy was even one of their employees. Jones, who holds the grandiose title of TV Licensing Field Operations Director, was seemingly in disbelief that one of his goons would act in such a brusque manner.

TV Licensing's Mr Grumpy in Halifax this morning
(apologies for low resolution).

Mr Grumpy, who was no doubt having flashbacks to his last camera experience, wasn't quite so talkative this morning. After a quick flick of his ID card he left rather hastily. For some unknown reason he walked straight past his Silver VW Golf, but we know it's his because it also featured in the background of the earlier video.

Mr Grumpy's Goonmobile.

The emergence of this most recent video leaves no doubt at all that Mr Grumpy is indeed a TV Licensing goon operating in the West Yorkshire area. He's driving the same car, wearing the same jacket, has the same facial features and speaks with the same accent as last time. We're fairly confident TV Licensing knew he was one of their's all along, despite Jones' attempts to put distance between them and the earlier incident.

View this morning's video on YouTube. Credit to the original uploader for letting us know.

Edit: This TV Licensing goon has now been positively identified as Philip Oldcorn. See this post for more information.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Might not actually be him, but he was posting new glossy we called to visit things through my door today, Monday 4th Nov.

I'm 2 minutes away from Lidl Selby Rd Supermarket, Leeds LS15 0DN.

Wasn't in, massive DVD audio/visual playback device on the wall with TV tuning facility not tuned in and full knowledge the aerial wasn't 'up to much, get cable' advice from the previous owner.

Goons, love the name....

Chris said...

I have a television which IS connected to a portable aerial and which is used to watch Netflix, catchup, etc - all the things which don't require a license.

It's connected to the aerial becauase it has a built-in Freeview tuner and I like to listen to Magic 105 FM radio.

How would I demonstrate that I don't use this installation to watch or record live TV? When turning the television on it's on the radio station, but live TV is just a button away. What court would believe that?

I guess it would come down to waiting to see if a warrant was executed, and, if it was, videoing the goon switching the television on to demonstrate that he himself made the switch. Still, would a court believe that that doesn't happen anyway?

Admin said...

Thanks for your message Chris. This is something that we have quizzed the BBC/TV Licensing about on previous occasions, but have never really had a satisfactory response.

The BBC is quite clear that a person does not need a TV licence to listen to radio only on their TV. A BBC FOIA disclosure document (ref. RFI20111288) states: "In a situation where any digital box is connected to a TV, no licence would be required to listen to the radio, provided the user does not watch or record any live television broadcasts."

You can Google that BBC reference number for the full text of their response.

The honest answer to your question is that it would be very difficult to demonstrate that you were only using a TV for radio.

Sorry I can't give a more substantive answer.

Anonymous said...

Chris. Can you not delete just the TV channels?

I did this for a mate last week on his TV as he only wanted Radio.

Paul Brighton said...

Nice post!!