Molded plug to normal one

[PBC_1966]

I should not have to tell them that I do not need something.

Exactly. And there is no legal obligation to tell them. How would it be if you kept receiving letters from the local police pointing out that they have no record of a firearms license at your address and telling you that possession of a firearm without a license is an offense? And suggesting that you contact them to tell them that you don't need a license? And when you don't, sending ever more threatening letters which imply that you're about to be dragged into court or that they want to send somebody to look around your house to make sure that you don't have a gun?

I would not cooperate with them to the slightest degree

And trying to be nice (after all, if you have nothing to hide, so why not?) has backfired on some people, because certain employees have been known to lie on the forms they fill in, or engage people in conversations which attempt to trick them into some sort of confession.

There is absolutely no reason to talk to any TVL "officer" (note the way they try to make it sound very official) who happens to turn up at your door other than to tell him to get off your property. Engaging in any talk about what you may have inside or letting him in to "confirm" anything is just putting yourself at risk of falling into the trap. And never, ever sign anything.

 

[Gerrydelasel]

I should not have to tell them that I do not need something.

Exactly. How would it be if you kept receiving letters from the local police pointing out that they have no record of a firearms license at your address?

95% of households do not own firearms or have part of the firearm equipment routinely built into them, so that's a terrible analogy.

 

[PBC_1966]

Yes after notifying them they sent me an email to say they might send someone to check, but nobody came. It may be where I live -I think they focus on rougher areas.

Yes, and that's the same if you've not bothered to contact them at all and just ignored all the threats. I lost count of how many times my address was "now under investigation and an officer has been authorized to visit your address and interview you under caution" (more threats and attempts at suggesting that they have more legal powers than they really do and a thinly veiled implication that one is obliged to cooperate). But where I lived was a tiny holiday area, quite off the beaten track, with many homes only used part of the year anyway. I believe they tend to target areas where they feel the pickings are likely to be more lucrative: Council estates, areas full of student bedsits, etc.

 

[PBC_1966]

95% of households do not own firearms or have part of the firearm equipment routinely built into them, so that's a terrible analogy.

Take something more common then, like driving. Should every adult who does not have a current driving license keep getting letters from DVLA reminding them of that fact, pointing out that they're breaking the law if they drive on a public highway without one, and demanding to come and check that the person doesn't have a car in his garage which he is driving?

But whether it's only 10% of people who watch broadcast TV or 95% doesn't really matter - It's the principle of it being totally wrong for TVL to behave in a way which assumes that there are only two types of people: Those with TV licenses and those who are illegally watching TV without a license. It's also completely wrong the intimidating and threatening way in which they go about trying to "persuade" everyone to get a license, even if one is not needed.

It's nice to be well out of it!

 

[Iggifer]

+1 for someone who doesn't need nor pay for a TV licence. That may change when the charter changes this year, but I can't remember the last time I watched live tv and I never listen to the radio.

Only had one TVL letter since I moved my flat. Weird

 

[ban-all-sheds]

they won't believe you unless you let one of their goons into your house to snoop around.

Let them.

You aren't obliged to let him in, and it wastes their time.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

When 95% of people already use a public service*, it's reasonable for them to assume you do too, unless you say otherwise. If you want to live without modern society's expectations then you need to go 'off grid'.

Then let them assume it.

Let them assume WTF they like.

If they make a false assumption it is nobody else's job to spend their time, no matter how small, correcting them.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

It's also completely wrong the intimidating and threatening way in which they go about trying to "persuade" everyone to get a license, even if one is not needed.

It is true that many people do feel intimidated and threatened by their behaviour. Wouldn't work with me - I'd have great fun.

 

[PBC_1966]

Let them.

You aren't obliged to let him in, and it wastes their time.

Sure - I never had the "pleasure" of having one of them turn up, but there's no way I would have let him in as a matter of principle.

It is true that many people do feel intimidated and threatened by their behaviour. Wouldn't work with me - I'd have great fun.

The intimidation doesn't work for those of us who understand the true legal position and the way TVL works - We can just laugh at the threats and the things they try to imply they can do but which we know they can't.

But unfortunately it does feel very threatening to those people who don't understand the true position and who, sometimes, are bullied into buying a license they are not legally required to have. The letter sequence is designed in such a way as to play on the fears of the people who don't understand the system.

 

[PBC_1966]

When 95% of people already use a public service*, it's reasonable for them to assume you do too, unless you say otherwise. If you want to live without modern society's expectations then you need to go 'off grid'.

I really don't see what going "off grid" has to do with TV licensing, since there are people who are "on grid" but don't watch broadcast TV and there are people who live "off grid" but do (I had a neighbor with a son in that position back in England - He wasn't "off grid" by choice of living in the middle of nowhere, but simply because there was no way he could afford the £50,000 or so EDF wanted to run 11kV lines about a quarter mile and install a transformer on his property.)

But what does it matter what proportion of people use a particular service? A large percentage of the population now has a mobile phone, but would you like to receive regular letters from Vodafone et al demanding that you pay for their service or explain why you aren't using it and let them look around your property to make sure you don't have a phone using their network illicitly?

And re the public-service aspect, don't forget that as it stands the law demands a TV receiving license to receive any broadcast TV, including commercial, while it's only the BBC which receives funds from the license. There are people who want to watch broadcast material but do not want to watch the BBC, yet are forced to pay for it. Sort of like being obliged to pay a "groceries license fee" to Tesco in order to be allowed to buy bread from the corner shop.....

 

[ban-all-sheds]

And long may that continue.

The reason that the BBC is still one of the finest broadcaster in the world is that it is not driven by commercial pressures to engage in a race to the bottom.

 

[EFLImpudence]

Eastenders ???

 

[PBC_1966]

Quality at the BBC went down the tubes years ago. But as a matter of principle, what justification is there for demanding that somebody pay a fee to the BBC in order to watch broadcast TV from some other organization? It's not as if it's difficult to control today now that it's all digital and can be encrypted easily. Let those who want the BBC pay for it through subscription and leave those who don't want it to watch whatever else they want without having to pay the BBC anyway.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

Are you in the pay of that scumbag Murdoch?

 

[winston1]

Let those who want the BBC pay for it through subscription and leave those who don't want it to watch whatever else they want without having to pay the BBC anyway.

So everyone has to scrap their existing equipment and buy new with a decoder and smart card box? Go down well that will.