Today, for your education and entertainment, I perform a turdectomy on one of TV Licensing's latest caustic missives.
The threatogram in question has the shit scary bold heading: Local investigation active in your area.
My knees are trembling just reading that.
Here goes, TV Licensing's words are in black and my comments are in red.
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Local investigation active in your area.
TV Licensing will undoubtedly be targeting other unlicensed properties in your local neighbourhood. They might even attempt to visit some of them in an effort to extract incriminating information from the occupier.
As there is no record of a TV Licence at your address, we have authorised an Enforcement Visit.
This is an interesting proposition, as legally only the occupier can authorise anyone's visit to their property. Despite pretending otherwise, TV Licensing has no automatic right to visit any property. It does so under a common law implied right of access. If the occupier tells a visiting TV Licensing goon to leave then that right of access no longer exists and they become a trespasser.
It is a criminal offence to watch or record live TV programmes on any channel or device, or to download or watch BBC programmes on iPlayer, without being covered by a TV Licence.
Legally speaking, this is largely accurate. However, I'd highlight TV Licensing's clever use of language in relation to the iPlayer. A TV licence is required to legally watch or download BBC programmes on the iPlayer. However, there is other content available on the iPlayer - BBC Radio and S4C on-demand for example - that does not legally require a TV licence. For that reason a TV licence is not needed merely to access the BBC iPlayer per se.
This could result in prosecution and a fine of up to £1,000 - plus any legal costs and/or compensation you may be ordered to pay.
It is correct that the maximum penalty for TV licence evasion is £1,000 fine, but barely anyone is ever fined anywhere near that amount. In 2022, the latest year for which data is available, the average fine imposed was £202. In England and Wales there would usually be a statutory surcharge (40% of the fine value) and possibly prosecution costs (around £120) to pay in addition to any fine. The TV Licensing Blog is not aware of anyone ever being ordered to pay compensation.
Last year we visited an address every 10 seconds.
TV Licensing goons only visit between certain hours of the day, as discussed in an earlier article. That being the case, it is unlikely this statement is accurate. Even if it is, a significant proportion of TV Licensing visits result in no answer or non-cooperation. The occupier of correctly unlicensed property is under no legal obligation at all to communicate or cooperate with TV Licensing.
Officers were in all parts of the country, including your area. Every day, they knocked on around 5,000 doors. Week days, evenings and weekends.
Like I just said, TV Licensing goons only visit between certain hours of the day. This could include week days, evenings and weekends, but certainly not at any time of the day.
How to stop a visit in your area:
- Buy a TV Licence at tvl.co.uk/pay
- Or, move an existing licence to your current address at tvl.co.uk/moving
- Or, tell us you don't need one at tvl.co.uk/noTV
Of course any legally-licence-free person is under no obligation at all to assist TV Licensing with its enquiries. Doing so is often a totally futile exercise, as TV Licensing simply will not believe any claim that no licence is needed. We suggest putting letters like this straight in the bin and continuing your legally-licence-free existence without giving TV Licensing a second thought.
For help with any of the above, please call 0300 790 6097 or visit the website for more information.
If you do not do any of the above, you can expect a visit soon.
Although it's pretty unlikely. Even if a TV Licensing goon does call, just say nothing and close the door. Remember that legally-licence-free people owe TV Licensing nothing. They do not need to respond to TV Licensing letters. They do not need to engage with visiting TV Licensing goons. By far the best option is to ignore TV Licensing completely.
Yours faithfully,
[Name]
Customer Services Director
Yeah, what an absolute twat.
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A reminder of the TV Licensing Blog's position: Anyone who does not legally require a TV licence is under no legal obligation at all to inform TV Licensing of the fact and should not do so.
If you do not require a TV licence, TV Licensing is not entitled to a millisecond of your time or inconvenience.
TV Licensing has vexatiously prosecuted many innocent people who made the mistake of providing more information than they should have done. Take it from me that TV Licensing has no moral compass. It is prepared to plumb the depths of depravity in order to achieve the results it wants.
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