A TV Licensing visiting officer struck out at a man outside his home in the sleepy Redcar & Cleveland village of Carlin How..
Details are still a bit patchy on this one, but the video footage
speaks for it self. There really is no doubt at all about the TV Licensing man's
actions, which we encourage the injured party to report to the police. In our opinion it is a clear cut case of assault.
According to the occupier the visiting officer, who is employed by TV Licensing operations contractor Capita Business Services Ltd, forcefully thrust his hand towards the camera causing it to hit him in the face. This account is corroborated by the video footage. The occupier challenged the visiting officer by saying "You just hit me in the face", to which he replied "I did not hit you in the face. Prove it". As luck would have it, the camera does a pretty good job of documenting the incident.
This incident took place on 8th August 2014.
As the video footage clearly shows the occupier remains civil and polite, up until the point where the TV Licensing man is seen to strike out. We do note that he appears to be of the Freeman on the Land persuasion, but that does not detract from the seriousness of the incident that took place.
According to the occupier the visiting officer, who is employed by TV Licensing operations contractor Capita Business Services Ltd, forcefully thrust his hand towards the camera causing it to hit him in the face. This account is corroborated by the video footage. The occupier challenged the visiting officer by saying "You just hit me in the face", to which he replied "I did not hit you in the face. Prove it". As luck would have it, the camera does a pretty good job of documenting the incident.
This incident took place on 8th August 2014.
As the video footage clearly shows the occupier remains civil and polite, up until the point where the TV Licensing man is seen to strike out. We do note that he appears to be of the Freeman on the Land persuasion, but that does not detract from the seriousness of the incident that took place.
It is perfectly legal for anyone to film TV Licensing employees as they operate in a public place and we actively encourage the practice. The TV Licensing Visiting Procedures, a voluminous document that governs the conduct of TV Licensing enquiries, specifically states that visiting officers are not to challenge anyone exercising their legal right to film.
We shall try to add further details to this post as they become known, but please understand that we shall have to be quite circumspect in our commentary on this occasion.
In closing we'll just remind you of a few phrases of TV Licensing self-description from their brand philosophy:
- We're polite, respectful and open.
- We are not aggressive or threatening.
- We take pride in being helpful.
- We do not shout.
Edit (13/8/14): We now have the identity of the TV Licensing man in question. We won't name him at the moment, but let's just say he's not a stranger.
i really really really hope the guy that the goon assaulted contacts the police, as the inspector ran from the front of the car to the back to physically assault the guy , its a clear case of at least Assault.
ReplyDeleteThe more of the inspectors that do things like this that end up in court having to answer for there actions the better , and the more that end up in court theres a better chance people will wake up to this bulling and intimidation.
Inbound monitoring.
ReplyDeleteNo doubt their next stop will be to blub to YouTube.
Search Referral: (no referring link)
Host Name:
Browser: IE 9.0
IP Address: 194.205.13.211
Operating System: Win7
Location: United Kingdom
Resolution: 1017x572
Returning Visits: 7
Javascript: Enabled
Visit Length: 24 mins 27 secs
ISP: Capita Business Services
This is utterly shameful. The police need to be involved and Capita need to issue a statement apologising and assuring the public that the thug has been dealt with.
ReplyDeleteI would like to send this video to the news desks of several newspapers, but I don't know if the victim of the assault would appreciate the publicity.
The relevant people already know Paul, so I wouldn't worry about that.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comment.