Ben Taskers Blog

On the bullyboy tactics employed by government agencies

03 09 07 - 11:40


Now I realise that most households in the UK now own a Television,however not everybody does. Those that don't (much like myself) have probably received one of TV Licensing's letters.
These letters outright state that since you do not posses a TV License, it is believed that you may be watching TV without a license and so committing a criminal act.

The simple fact is that not everyone wants a TV, and those that choose not to own one get consistently hassled by the TV Licensing Authority. If it had not been for their incompetence with billing, I would in all likelihood still have a TV and a license. Unfortunately the lack of TV License makes me a criminal in their eyes, and the letter (which I will replicate shortly) relies on some serious bullyboy tactics. Threats of enforcement officers coming round and so on and so forth.


Whilst I appreciate that there are people in the UK watching TV's without a License, I did not appreciate the bulshy tone of this letter, and so wrote a letter informing TV Licensing that I had already notified them of my lack of Television. I also told them that if they wished to make an appointment to send enforcement officers round then I am perfectly willing to allow that, however if they accept this offer then I expect not to hear from TV Licensing until such a time as we apply for a TV License. I also mentioned that if they had not replied within the timescale specified in my letter that I would take it as an acceptance of my request to remove all my details from their database.