Students and TV Licensing: £145.50 Saving Trumps £36 Refund

It can't have escaped many people's attention that TV Licensing's PR harlots have recently clicked the dial of their spin-machine towards the "student" cycle.

In particular, they are reminding students that they might be able to claim a refund of £36 on any full unused quarters of TV licence validity they won't been needing over the summer vacation period.

TV Licensing has done a bit of research and apparently that £36 could be used for "half a return flight" to Amsterdam or a tour of the local hostelries once you'd arrived. According to one report the £36 could also pay for a one night stay - presumably under a park bench - and sightseeing tour of Dublin.

Matthew Thompson, tombstone-toothed TV Licensing PR harlot for the North of England, said: "The student refund is brilliant news for students and we encourage those who bought their licence at the start of the academic year to take advantage of it.

"It is important students buy a TV licence at the earliest opportunity when starting university and take advantage of the flexible payment options available to them.

"We want to help students understand the law when it comes to watching live TV on any device and help them avoid a fine of up to £1,000."

Spookily enough, in an orchestrated bout of media cross-contamination, several of Thompson's counterparts (Dian, Whitehouse, Stirling, Chapman et al) have delivered exactly the same message, verbatim, in other parts of the UK.

Here at the TV Licensing Blog, we also want students to understand the law. By understanding the law, it is perfectly possible to avoid paying £145.50 for a TV licence in the first place.

Just think what you could do with that £145.50. You could buy four "half return flights" to Amsterdam or even buy your own park bench to take to Dublin.

There are several ways that a student can get their regular fix of TV without the legal need for a TV licence. Please read our Student Guide to TV Licence Rules for more information.