A terminally-ill cancer patient has been convicted of TV licence evasion, despite having told TV Licensing about her medical condition.
This is yet another case demonstrating the falsehood of TV Licensing's regular claims that it only prosecutes cases in the public interest.
The 50-year-old mother, who has terminal breast cancer, was visited by a TV Licensing goon. She told the goon that she had watched Emmerdale the previous evening, but was unsure when her TV licence had expired.
Despite being aware of her circumstances, TV Licensing decided to prosecute regardless.
She was dealt with via the Single Justice Procedure and handed a 3 month conditional discharge and ordered to pay £26 surcharge. TV Licensing also asked for £120 prosecution costs, but the court decided to waive those. Such a sentence is at the absolute bottom of the guidelines, so it would appear that the court has been as lenient as possible.
In her mitigation, which will have been seen by the court but not TV Licensing, the woman said: "I have been very stressed and depressed. I am currently ongoing (sic) treatment for stage 4 terminal cancer.
"Further to this, every day is a struggle. I'm in a lot of pain and struggle to move out of bed. I get my daughter to help me with everyday needs.
"In addition my personal independence payment has stopped, so I haven't been receiving the money."
Evening Standard hack Tristan Kirk, who has been spearheading a campaign against the Single Justice Procedure, contacted TV Licensing to bring this case to their attention.
TV Licensing apologised to the woman and has said it will take steps to have her conviction overturned.
A spokesman said: "This case should not have proceeded to prosecution and we are extremely sorry for this.
"We will be writing to the customer to apologise directly and we will be re-opening the case as soon as possible so the prosecution can be withdrawn."
In our experience, despite TV Licensing claims to the contrary, cases like this are widespread. The BBC, which has overall responsibility for the administration and enforcement of the TV licence fee, knows fine well the gutter tactics employed by its TV Licensing contractors.
We reiterate our message that TV Licensing is never to be trusted under any circumstances.
Anyone who does not legally need a TV licence should ignore its letters and leave its miscreant goons out in the cold.
Do not make the mistake of engaging or trying to reason with the dishonest shysters at TV Licensing.
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Further anti-BBC reading:
- Is The True Or Did You Hear It On The BBC?, by David Sedgwick (aff. link)
- The BBC: Myth of a Public Service, by Tom Mills (aff. link)
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