A well-known Elvis-impersonating TV Licensing goon has been filmed during an angry confrontation with the occupier of a legally-licence-free property he had visited earlier.
Unlike the "icicle" logo on his jacket, Welsh goon Steve Maitland-Thomas had great difficulty keeping his cool on this occasion.
The two-minute video features Maitland-Thomas, who hails from Porthcawl, being confronted by the angry occupier in the street. It appears from the dialogue that the occupier had followed the flat-capped goon after he visited his property earlier in the day.
The full circumstances of the video are unclear, but it appears that Maitland-Thomas' blue Peugeot 206, registration number VE03 BZK, had been penned into a narrow residential street by another vehicle.
For most of the video, available to view here (alternative link), Maitland-Thomas is seen on the phone to his Capita bosses, who have been feverishly scouring our blog all day waiting for this article to appear. With raised voices and accusations flying in both directions, Maitland-Thomas relays a commentary of the confrontation to the person at the other end of the phone.
As regular readers will know, it is perfectly legal for the occupier of a property to film any TV Licensing goon that visits. It is also legal to film anyone in the public street, where there is no reasonable expectation of privacy. For all we actively encourage the filming of TV Licensing goons, we always stress that it should be done passively and from a safe distance.
We do not encourage or condone the actions of the occupier in today's video.
Well, of course, Capita went into web censorship mode and had the original taken down on some really flimsy and spurious grounds.
ReplyDeleteFortunately, we among others have our copies. We note what TV Licensing Blog wrote concerning the but having viewed it, Maitland-Thomas' behaviour is disgraceful and is not condoned anywhere in TV Licensing Visiting Procedures.
If this is the BBC's idea of TV Licensing visiting "behaving professionally at all times" then it's fair to say the BBC still do comedy.
We think that what has to be borne in mind by everyone who sees this video that everything, EVERYTHING, said and done by Maitland-Thomas is said and done while he is on the BBC's "business" and Visiting Procedures demand that he behave properly at all times, even under "provocation" which he wilfully initiated and incited by making derogatory comments about the person filming him.
If this is how the BBC wants its "business" to be transacted then the sooner the BBC TV Tax is scrapped the better.