TV Licensing Threatogram: Will You Be In?

This month we have been sent a new variation TV Licensing threatogram.

In a similar vein to the "10 days" threatogram it suggests that recipients - more than 8 out of 10 of whom live in a correctly unlicensed property - will receive a personal visit from TV Licensing if they don't immediately drop everything and stump up the £157.50 TV licence fee.

In common with every other TV Licensing threatogram, it is riddled with lies and innuendo designed to pressurise the recipient into submitting to TV Licensing's demands, even though they're probably under no legal obligation to do so.

The full letter reads as follows:

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Will you be in on [date]?

As there is no record of a TV Licence at your address, you should expect a visit from an Enforcement Officer.

It may be on [date] or it may be on another day. If you are caught watching or recording live TV, on any channel or device, you could face a fine of up to £1,000 plus any legal costs and/or compensation you may be ordered to pay. The same applies if you are caught downloading or watching BBC programmes on iPlayer.

We visit around 8,000 addresses every day*.

Our officers visit an address every 6 seconds. Day. Evening. Even weekends. And if no one answers they can come back.

Stop a visit before it's too late.

• Buy a TV Licence at tvlicensing.co.uk/pay with payments starting from £6.00 a week.
• Or, move an existing licence to your current address at tvlicensing.co.uk/moving
• Or, tell us you don't need one at tvlicensing.co.uk/noTV

For help with any of the above, please call 0300 790 6097 or turn over for more information.

If you do not do any of the above, you can expect a visit soon.

Yours faithfully,

[Name]

Enforcement Manager

*Based on annual average visits (made between 2017 and 2019) and available working hours in a week.

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So what happens, we hear you ask, if a person ignores the threats and fails to respond within 10 days?

Absolutely nothing is the answer. The letters will continue to arrive every month; perhaps a TV Licensing goon with very few rights will attempt to visit; and then the cycle will eventually restart all over again.

Even if a person decides to humour TV Licensing by getting in touch, it will probably be a wasted effort. A quick glance at TV Licensing's Twitter feed aptly demonstrates how it continues to harass legitimate non-viewers, even after being informed about their no-TV status.

A TV licence is only needed for those properties where equipment is used to receive TV programme services or BBC on-demand programmes via the iPlayer. Anyone who doesn't need a TV licence, is under no legal obligation at all to communicate or co-operate with TV Licensing - they don't need to provide any assistance or information to TV Licensing, as the letter dishonestly states.

We strongly recommend non-viewers ignore TV Licensing entirely: simply keep quiet, bin its threatograms and leave its employees out in the cold. Most people who fall foul of TV Licensing have made the mistake of saying the wrong thing, thus incriminating them self. Totally blanking TV Licensing and saying nothing is by far the most effective approach.

Communicating with TV Licensing is a totally futile effort, so it's better to spend your time in more productive ways (like by reading our free ebook).

A few general points to conclude with:

• The wording of every TV Licensing letter is approved by the BBC.
• The BBC has been told, on numerous occasions, that TV Licensing letters cause real anguish to people who do not legally require a TV licence. The BBC's response is: "We do not agree that TV Licensing letters are threatening or intimidating".
• TV Licensing goons only work certain hours during the week, as discussed in a previous article.
• TV Licensing goons have no special legal rights or authority. They are just another cold caller to a person's home and can be treated as such.
• TV Licensing goons cannot be trusted. They receive a financial incentive for selling licences and "nabbing" evaders, which has resulted in several of them fiddling the books and stitching up innocent householders. TV Licensing goons have been convicted of work-related crimes up to and including rape (see here, here and here for the tip of the iceberg).

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TV Licensing Pulls Plug on 376,000 Incoming Customer Calls

The TV Licensing Blog can exclusively reveal that TV Licensing pulled the plug on more than 376,000 incoming customer telephone calls since the start of 2020.

Using the Freedom of Information Act 2000 we asked the BBC to provide the following information:

• The number of incoming TV Licensing customer telephone calls abandoned or terminated by TV Licensing before the customer had a chance to speak to an advisor. Please provide this as an annual breakdown for the years 2018, 2019 and 2020 to date.

In its response to our request, the BBC (their ref RFI202001590) provided the following information:

• In 2018, TV Licensing received 8,230,318 incoming customer telephone calls. It abandoned or terminated 108,759 of those calls before the customer spoke to an advisor.
• In 2019, TV Licensing received 8,293,072 incoming customer telephone calls. It abandoned or terminated 77,649 of those calls before the customer spoke to an advisor.
• In 2020 (to 30th September), TV Licensing received 6,951,453 incoming customer telephone calls. It abandoned or terminated 376,459 of those calls before the customer spoke to an advisor.

As is customarily the case in its response to information requests, the BBC tried to justify TV Licensing's abysmal level of service. You can read the BBC's blather in the linked response document.

Suffice to say, we do not consider the coronavirus outbreak any excuse at all, as TV Licensing call centre staff can just as easily ply their immoral trade from the safety and splendid isolation of their homes.

At the end of October TV Licensing was accused of trying to deliberately frustrate TV licence cancellation requests by leaving customers hanging on the telephone line and never answering. They also redirected customers from the cancellation page of the TV Licensing website towards the telephone helpline that went unanswered.

We recommend anyone wishing to cancel their TV licence does so by sending them an email and cancelling any Direct Debit at the bank. No further action is necessary, unless they wish to run the gauntlet of trying to claim a refund.

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BBC Denies Rumours of "Coronavirus Amnesty" for Over-75 TV Licence Payers

The BBC has denied rumours that there will be an amnesty for new over-75 TV licence payers due to the ongoing coronavirus outbreak.

Campaign group Silver Voices, which represents pensioners, had called for an amnesty on the £157.50 fee, for those over-75 households that have recently become eligible to pay in full.

In a letter to Silver Voices the BBC Director General, Tim Davie, said: "More and more people are now getting a licence - now over 3 million - including 2.34 million who have paid and over 700,000 who have claimed free licences.

"This means around 70% of households have transitioned to the new system."

According to Davie, more than 1 million calls have been made to TV Licensing's new dedicated over-75 helpline, although there is no way of knowing how satisfactory the outcome of those calls was.

Davie's letter continued: "When Covid first started it cost the BBC around £70 million to delay the new policy by two months.

"We could not afford to defer the scheme for any longer without cutting programmes and services which would have affected everyone."

The implication of Davie's comments is that as two-thirds of pensioners have already been coerced into paying the TV licence fee, despite the ongoing health crisis, then the other third have no excuse for not doing the same.

Just for good measure Davie also managed to get in a hint about how impoverished the BBC is at the moment, it having stumped up £70 million to "help" over-75s already.

Mr Reed said: "We are sad and disappointed that the Director General has chosen to ignore our request for a licence amnesty for the next six months.

"The mental health of senior citizens is already frayed by months of virtual isolation and to receive threatening enforcement letters during the lockdown may push some over the edge."

According to the BBC, TV Licensing are not currently undertaking enforcement visits to over-75 households now eligible to pay the TV licence fee. Those households are, however, receiving caustic missives from TV Licensing.

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Princess Diana Interview: A Dark Cloud Hanging Over BBC Journalism

Concerns over the way Princess Diana was interviewed by Martin Bashir twenty-five years ago have left a dark cloud hanging over BBC journalism, according to a former boss of the Corporation.

The Princess was interviewed by Bashir for a special 1995 edition of the BBC's flagship current affairs programme Panorama.

However, allegations have now surfaced - and the BBC accepts them - that bank statements were fabricated in order to secure the Princess's participation in the bombshell interview, which ultimately resulted in her being cut adrift from the Royal Family.

Earl Spencer, the Princess's brother, reportedly raised concerns about the conduct of interview with BBC Director General Tim Davie. The Earl alleges, to put not too fine a point on it, that Bashir spun the Princess a yarn and psychologically manipulated her in order to get the scoop.

According to an article in The Sunday Times at the start of October, Earl Spencer has a dossier of evidence against Bashir proving the journalist, who was 32 at the time of the interview, made "wild allegations" that unnerved the Princess.

These included false claims that:

• MI6 had tapped the Princess's phone; 
• The Princess's bodyguard was conspiring against her;
• MI6 had recorded a telephone call between Prince Charles and his private secretary plotting "the end game";
• Prince Charles was "in love" with nanny Tiggy Legge-Bourke and the couple went on secret holidays together;
• The Queen was "a comfort eater" who had "heart problems".

In 1996, the BBC carried out an internal review of Bashir's behaviour which judged that the fake bank statements - forged by a BBC graphics designer - had not helped to gain the interview.

But the fake dossiers showed that a former employee of Spencer's had been selling information about the family. Bashir claimed that they had been given to him by a source in the intelligence community, The Sunday Times reported.

A 1996 BBC investigation into the matter said: "The BBC has been able, independently, to verify that these documents were put to no use which had any bearing, direct or indirect, on the Panorama interview with the Princess of Wales."

It would now appear that the dodgy bank statements were the tip of the iceberg.

Bashir, who is now the BBC's religion editor, is conveniently off work at the moment, supposedly "seriously unwell" after a heart operation, despite being photographed out shopping a few days ago.

Baron (Michael) Grade of Yarmouth, a former chairman of the BBC, said that the allegations against Bashir were "a very, very serious matter".

Speaking on BBC Radio 4's World at One programme earlier today, Grade said there was "dark cloud hanging over BBC journalism".

He added: "There needs to be an immediate independent inquiry announced, and the results of that inquiry need to be published."

This story has gathered considerable traction over the last few days, so stay tuned for further developments.

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