TV Licensing Say Hello

I'm going to move forward to the point when, just a few years ago, I moved house. The process I describe is, in its initial stages at least, similar to that experienced at my previous residence. Only I still possess all the documentation for this time around.

Most of us have a pretty routine, mundane life. We may have a few crises: but life generally plods on without major ructions in a civilised country where the individual has rights, where the law exists to protect as well as to prosecute.

Things are happy and sedate in my new home. The living room is decorated in a fetching pink that doesn't quite fit with its new male occupant. So I might have to get round to decorating some day, but thats about it: all is generally peace and quiet. And then, one day in September 2006, a letter arrives for me out of the blue. This one:

TV Licensing Asks Me A Question

It's a Two Page Question

The first time (about ten years before) I ever saw a letter like this it was a shock. But now I just felt angry. Let's look at this letter and see what the options are if you don't watch TV:

What if you do not use TV equipment at this address? Please call us on 0870 241 8209 and let us know. We will arrange a visit to confirm the situation, following which we will update our records.

So lets see. If you tell them you don't use a TV they will send their people round to 'confirm the situation'. And that is exactly the same thing they say they are going to do if you ignore them, only they charge you a premium rate phone call for the privilege. Oh, and if you look on the back of the letter you can, instead, waste a postage stamp for the same lack of effect.

Well, at least they say they will visit. My experience, from my previous address, is that whatever I do now they'll keep directing stuff like this at me. The only way to stop them would be to buy a TV license, even though I do not require one. And how do I know I don't require one? I go to the TVL website where they inform us all:

You need a TV Licence to use any television receiving equipment such as a TV set, set-top boxes, video or DVD recorders, computers or mobile phones to watch or record TV programmes as they are being shown on TV.

If you use a set-top box with a hi-fi system or another device that can only be used to produce sounds and can't display TV programmes, and you don't install or use any other TV receiving equipment, you don't need a TV Licence.

*The advice has been updated and is now clearer as to the use of the internet and downloads.

Phew that's me covered then. I definitely don't need one. I'm not going to ring their premium rate line so they can take money from me just by sending me letters like this. So regional officers will be scheduled to visit my address, which seems to me to be the best result. I don't have a TV, so one quick invasion of my privacy and the thing will be resolved.

In my next post let us see what happens when the 'regional officer' visits.