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.