So it begins...

[wafter]

 

[Drago]

What a coincidence - my name is also Legal Occupier.

 

[si_c]

Ah I see they've smartened them up since I last had one. look much nicer and friendlier.

there was a certain honesty to the old demands though, they definitely looked as though they knew it was a shakedown so didn't make any effort to hide it.

 

[Bristolian]

Just send it back without a stamp marked "addressee not known at this address".

 

[Drago]

Just send it back without a stamp marked "addressee not known at this address".

I tape them to an old phonebook before doing that.

Ah I see they've smartened them up since I last had one. look much nicer and friendlier.

there was a certain honesty to the old demands though, they definitely looked as though they knew it was a shakedown so didn't make any effort to hide it.

Old Wafters has received the introductory note. As time goes by they get nastier and redder. Apparently multiple investigations have been opened on my house.

The principle annoys me. I don't have to justify or prove to M&S that I shop at Waitrose, so why should I do so for the Britain Bashing Corruption?

 

[wafter]

Cheers folks - were it anyone with a more legit mandate / a decent record for being fair and proportionate I'd drop them a message to confirm that I don't need a license.

However, given the rep the TV licensing mafia have I don't think I'll waste my time... looking forward to seeing how the intimidation tactics ramp up

 

[Alex321]

I tape them to an old phonebook before doing that.



Old Wafters has received the introductory note. As time goes by they get nastier and redder. Apparently multiple investigations have been opened on my house.

The principle annoys me. I don't have to justify or prove to M&S that I shop at Waitrose, so why should I do so for the Britain Bashing Corruption?

You don't have to prove anything. It is up to them to prove that you ARE watching TV, either receiving it via an aerial, or watching using iplayer, or watching "as live" with any other broadcaster streaming service.

 

[wafter]

You don't have to prove anything. It is up to them to prove that you ARE watching TV, either receiving it via an aerial, or watching using iplayer, or watching "as live" with any other broadcaster streaming service.

Indeed; although of course that's never how it's presented. If a reasonable discouse could be had I'd happily engage, however the heavy-handed, "guilty-until-proven-innocent" attitude fails to sell me on their cause. It's like the polis demanding I provide proof that I don't have a kilo of coke and an AK47 under the bed..

 

[wafter]

Part two....

 

[Drago]

Oh my Lord. A visit being authorised! I expect in a week or two you might have worked up a shiver.

 

[slowmotion]

They used to send those letters, and increasingly nastier ones, to my office for over twenty five years. I never replied to any of them. My attitude was that if they didn't have the good manners to provide a freephone number or a postage-paid address for me to contact them, I wasn't going to help them out.

Nobody ever turned up at my door.

 

[Moon bunny]

I managed to get all the way to the jackpot of a warrant for entry.* Mega goon turned up , with a bored looking copper in tow. I let him in, showed him all round my house, after I had insisted on shoe removal at the door, with such comments as, “See these bed sheets? Real silk” etc, Hover fly came in from work, still in his boat driver’s uniform, I introduce Mr. Goon: says Hover “TV licencing enforcement officer aye? Was that a childhood ambition?” We offered Mike, we were on first name terms by now, a cup of something warming- it was late on a cold December evening- but he declined and hurried on his way.

*Helpful hint, send a letter about removing “implied right of access” as recommended on some anti TV licence enforcement websites, it will get you to the front of the queue for a visit.

 

[Pduk]

Personally I'd be concerned, I mean they've only gone and got Taggart on the case 🚓
If you're not sure who he is / was, I'd say give it a watch on the moving picture box, but without a tv license I'm sure you wouldn't entertain that idea

 

[wafter]

Oh my Lord. A visit being authorised! I expect in a week or two you might have worked up a shiver.

Yeah, quite pathetic how they're trying to ratchet up the rhetoric, isn't it?

They used to send those letters, and increasingly nastier ones, to my office for over twenty five years. I never replied to any of them. My attitude was that if they didn't have the good manners to provide a freephone number or a postage-paid address for me to contact them, I wasn't going to help them out.

Nobody ever turned up at my door.

Absolutely - the arrogance and implied sense of entitlement really makes me want to waste some of their time; however that would of course also be wasting my own..

I managed to get all the way to the jackpot of a warrant for entry.* Mega goon turned up , with a bored looking copper in tow. I let him in, showed him all round my house, after I had insisted on shoe removal at the door, with such comments as, “See these bed sheets? Real silk” etc, Hover fly came in from work, still in his boat driver’s uniform, I introduce Mr. Goon: says Hover “TV licencing enforcement officer aye? Was that a childhood ambition?” We offered Mike, we were on first name terms by now, a cup of something warming- it was late on a cold December evening- but he declined and hurried on his way.

*Helpful hint, send a letter about removing “implied right of access” as recommended on some anti TV licence enforcement websites, it will get you to the front of the queue for a visit.

Great work - seems you've set the bar high! I guess that's potentially the gold standard of fecking them about - do as little as possible to provoke a visit (with all the time and energy that involves) only to show them the property bereft of a telly... although of course with streaming now on the menu one wonders how they might attempt to check this.

Having watched a few (non-live-streamed made-up-officer!) Youtube videos on this, it's shocking how easily and skillfully they'll dance between demanding things that they both do and do not have a right to..

I've thought similar to Hover fly's position - while traffic wardens are universally hated at least they target people who are potentially causing a genuine problem (and were the perception so utterly tarnished it's probably something I'd get a lot of satisfaction from tbh) I can't see any moral reward whatsoever for becoming a TV license bellend.

Personally I'd be concerned, I mean they've only gone and got Taggart on the case 🚓
If you're not sure who he is / was, I'd say give it a watch on the moving picture box, but without a tv license I'm sure you wouldn't entertain that idea

I assumed that name was the result of challenging AI to provide the name of the "hardest bastard".

Familiar with Taggart thanks - I have the first season or two at home

 

[Hover Fly]

I assumed that name was the result of challenging AI to provide the name of the "hardest bastard

Our letters come signed by someone with a name that differs from mine only in the spelling of the forename.