The ruthless tactics employed by TV Licensing have been exposed on the front page of today's Daily Mail.
Apologies for the tardiness of our response today, but this is the first opportunity we've had to share our thoughts.
TV Licensing is the trading name used by companies contracted by the BBC to administer and enforce the TV licence fee. The BBC, as statutory Licensing Authority, retains full legal responsibility for running the TV licence system, but likes to maintain a safe distance from the caustic TV Licensing brand. Capita Business Services Ltd currently holds the lucrative TV Licensing operations contract.
You can read the Daily Mail's article as well as we can, so we won't cover their ground. Suffice to say we are not at all surprised that certain Capita TV Licensing managers are encouraging their door-knocking cannon fodder to hard sell, snoop through windows, conceal their identities and gather evidence in a selective manner.
In the ten years we have been campaigning against TV Licensing (the BBC have referred to us as "TV Licensing's most prevalent activist") we have heard stories like these every single week. The BBC, which pores over every article we write, knows fine well the unscrupulous tactics of its TV Licensing contractors, but it simply isn't bothered - just as long as nigh on impossible performance targets are met and the cash keeps rolling in. By shrugging its shoulders and falsely pleading ignorance, the BBC is fully complicit in the heinous conduct of the bottom feeders it contracts to enforce the TV licence.
Bullying, deceit, intimidation, fraud, assault and even rape - we've seen them all.
Enough is enough.
Two final housekeeping notes:
1. Apologies to readers who left comments earlier today, but your contributions were inadvertently deleted.
2. One of the authors of today's Daily Mail exposé, Glen Keogh, has asked that anyone who has been bullied or intimidated by Capita TV Licensing employees (e.g. door knocking goons) gets in touch with their stories. Email him at: tvlicence@dailymail.co.uk
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6 comments:
Tony Hall’s position is completely untenable and he will have to resign.
• Given the amount of exposure the Goons’ shenanigans have on social media, there is no way the BBC cannot be aware of their conduct but have chosen to ignore it. This is appalling behaviour on their part which has now been called out by the Daily Mail. Tony Hall should resign for such deceit.
• So maybe they really didn’t know, as Tony Hall claims in his letter to Capita. As such they have proven themselves to be totally unfit to administer the outsource contract with Capita, financed by the licence fee payer. Tony hall has to take responsibility for such delinquency and should resign.
If things are allowed to continue with no substantive change, I would expect a mass cancellation of licenses starting April 2017 when the fee will increase in line with inflation.
The BBC is in denial with the way Capita enforces the TV licence fee, just like it was in denial with the way Jimmy Savile was raping kids in his dressing room. The BBC knows fine well what Capita gets up to, because commentators like us have brought it squarely to their attention.
Anyone thinking that this is going to be a death blow to the BBC is going to be sadly mistaken. There will be, unfortunately, those that will continue to pay the BBC's licence fee in spite of this, as they always have through all of the other trials that the BBC has gone through over the years, because of the same old tired rhetoric "it's excellent value for money". There are those among us that have failed to lose the infamous "stiff upper lip syndrome" that us Brits are legendary for and it is those people that will continue paying for the BBC's services, regardless of the enormity of any exposé the media put out.
Will we see a mass exodus of licence fee payers over the next few days, weeks or months because of this? Sadly not, I think. The BBC has been though much worse than this and until they are denied their precious little licence fee, it will long continue.
If Tony Hall steps down, I foresee 2 things happening:
1) Because of his contract, he, like many of his predecessors before him, will get a 6 figure payout. It happened after that other guy left the same position after less than 2 months in the job.
2) You can bet your last copper penny that Tony Hall will be replaced with yet another overpaid champagne gulping lackey who will be used as cannon fodder by the very same people who used Tony Hall as cannon fodder in this incident, and NOTHING will change. At the end of the day, the BBC can, and will, plead innocence, like they always have and will most likely say "oh, Mr Doyle was acting on his own. His actions during that interview were not sanctioned by us [the BBC] nor do we condone any of the [unfortunate] actions that TV Licensing carry out in their pursuit of the licence fee". And then they will most probably end with "We still believe that the licence fee is excellent value for money." just like EVERY other person says when talking about their beloved "Auntie" BBC. If I had an Aunt like the BBC, I'd have disowned her years ago!!
So, yes, anyone expecting a quick death of either the licence fee, or the BBC, is deluded. Both will endure this, just like all the other scandals.
Now the blame game starts between the politicians, the BBC and Capita. The fact is that the TV Licensing system has been run by the BBC since 1991. BBC TV Licensing is based at:
1st Floor, The Lighthouse
BBC White City
201 Wood Lane
London
W12 7TQ
This is part of BBC Business and Finance. BBC TV Licensing are well aware of their contactor's (Capita) techniques. They approve the wording of the millions of threatograms sent every year.
As the newspaper article makes clear, the TV Licensing system is based on harnessing the power of greed to target the vulnerable. The BBC could use technology to protect their revenue if they wished but for some reason they are wedded to the idea of compulsion rather than having genuine customers for their service.
Ohh the irony. Ian ( coz Im greedy) Doyal caught out by a covert light capturing detector device
If it's in the Daily Fail, doesn't that make it almost certain to be untrue?
:P
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