A retired BBC Scotland lawyer is suing his former paymasters after he was innundated with TV Licensing threatograms despite having a TV licence.
Alistair Bonnington, 71, from Berwick-upon-Tweed, previously lived in Glasgow.
In December 2022 he moved to the Northumberland market town of Berwick, which is a few miles away from the England-Scotland border.
During the move he cancelled the TV licence at his Glasgow property and set up a new licence for his Berwick home.
Almost immediately he began to receive TV Licensing's caustic correspondence, falsely accusing him of not having a TV licence.
He made contact with TV Licensing to explain the situation, but his correspondence was ignored.
In an interview, Alistair said: "They have hounded me and made threats but because of my legal background I wasn't intimidated, although it was unpleasant.
"For others - for example, a parent of young children or an elderly and vulnerable person - it's not hard to imagine that they would just say, 'Fair enough, I'll pay this, to put an end to it, even though they'd already paid.
"The problem is that TV Licensing did not respond to most of my emails or letters, or listen to what I was telling them, so something that could have been resolved easily drags on for many months."
Alistair explained that he had emailed and written to TV Licensing on a number of occasions, including sending them letters by recorded delivery.
He is now suing TV Licensing through the County Court.
A TV Licensing spokesman said it would be "inappropriate to comment on the next steps" whilst legal proceedings were ongoing.
Alistair has hit the nail on the head with his observation that most people would think 'fair enough, I'll pay this, just to put an end to it'. The whole TV Licensing enforcement model relies heavily on scaring people into compliance, as it is a darn sight cheaper than doing any proper investigatory work.
In this case, just like in the case of our reader Phil (read how he sued TV Licensing), the bottom-dwellers at TV Licensing have bitten off more than they can chew.
We really would encourage anyone with a bit of legal nouse and tenacity to take the fight to TV Licensing. You can read more about standing up to TV Licensing by taking legal action in our earlier article.
Best of luck to Alistair.
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