TV Licensing send threatening letters

TV Licensing are scum. They are bullies without any legal authority whatsoever. If you want to get rid of them, write to them withdrawing the implied access to your property. They will huff and puff about using other means, but will have no choice but to accede to your wishes. I have moved several times and agree you should not have to prove your innocence in this way but it's worth ending the hassle of the intimidating mail in the end.

Some good information on letters from TV licensing and about detector vans are to be found in the following website:http://www.bbctvlicence.com/

I have always understood that TV Detector vans do not work, and never have worked. They are just for show. That is why they have that science-fiction forest of ironmongery on the roof.

How probable is it that they could distinguish a TV from a computer display, whether CRT or other?

Does anyone know differently?

I don't think there is anyway that they can detect whether or not you have a TV and assume that you do. A friend of mine who is a student at University is constantly harassed by these people, even though He doesn't have a TV.

now the reason I say this is that a TV works by receiving signals from a mast, it does not emit any signals of its own, therefore it is entirely passive, and passive devices can not be detected through the radio signals they receive. hence they can't detect if you have a TV or not.

They can know if you have license or not though a database. now if we take all the houses that don't have a license and assume they have a TV. then Visit them and say our van has "detected" their TV and if they have one they should pay for it because they think they have been "detected" the vans are a lie, they can't do anything more than Provide transport.

<I seem to suffer from a syndrome of being disturbed by things other people don't find important at all . I've noticed the BBC are advertising that you can catch up onprograms on the internet. I was thinking "why are they putting programs on the internet for free if they aren't going to get any licence fee from it" .Then the horror of it dawned on me . They're going to use it to argue a case for licencing having a computer or laptop if it's connected to the internet.They want to trap us before it's too late and all their revenue gets away. Using the same logic they force people to have licences by having TV's. You may possibly watch the BBC so you must pay,no choice.
It makes me so sick. I already think the TV licence is such a disgrace and such an abuse of Civil liberties I can't understand why millions of people aren't lobbying to abolish it. The harrassment is unbelievable.Probably because the revenue is even more unbelievable. Well all I'm saying is when it happens remember I told you so.Yes it's just mad old me. And don't expect to see my concerns being aired on News 24 unless they've been doctored.>

Do you feel that even daring to think about this is like being watched by BigBrother in 1984. Forget about BigBrother program and 1984 having been and gone.Remember the real horror of that book.Perhaps it should've been called 2008. I've got to the stage almost of thinking resistance is useless. It's like a thought police situation.Isn't there anything we can do about it instead of just discussing it .I want to find a place where millions of people are campaigning to abolish it.
"The BBC is now quietly lobbying for the licence fee to be extended to computers connected to broadband networks."
This confirms my worst fear. Alot of the argument against abolishing TV is the no adverts argument and because it mainly comes from the BBC people seem to be brainwashed into not seeing any other side of the argument like freedom of choice not to be bullied into make alot of people very rich at our expense.
It's a Catch 22 for the people that work there. Would they encourage us to want to abolish the licence even if they thought it was wrong? Would they resign because of their conscience? Who would know if they did? TV is like a monster out of control. Luckily we seem to have the capacity to fight back with our computers for now but we're running out of time.

Here is another message I posted at another website but I'm afraid to add anymore to it because I'm not confident of how relevent it is to that site.

You ask "what would an elderly person think if they were to receive a letter like this".....well, my in-laws DID receive one, several years ago. They had no TV, didn't want one and thus had no licence, BUT they were also over 75 years of age so it didn't matter anyway, because you don't then need a licence.
I would just march the letter straight off to a solicitor, despite the cost, just for the satisfaction of screwing the sods into the ground.

when they came round to our house and demanded to know "what do you do without a television?" we showed them a chess board. d**khead didnt have much to say to that.

sorry forgot the link

http://www.harassment-law.co.uk/

Write to this chap, send a formal letter of complaint about harassment, job done

Although I do own a television now, for many years my first husband and I did not. Although back then the technology was different, we were still bombarded with letters and once had a knock on the door from one of those tv detector vans saying that we were viewing a tv without a licence! We didn't even own a tv, the wretched man would not believe me, so I invited him in to see for himself, whereupon my wonderful dog went for him which was really funny and served him right. He never apologised (the dog didn't bite him, just barked at him), just left in a huff because he had been proved wrong. When I remarried, my second husband also had not had a tv, only buying one when his first wife fell ill and needed some entertainment. For years they too had been harangued by the licensing authority.

What gives these people the right to assume that you own a tv? My parents do not, can't stand the things, but luckily for them are down a long drive and so far have not been bombarded with nasty letters.

From TV Licensing Authority: "You see everyone owns a television. Those who don't are liars who 'will be caught". Frankly I find that quite offensive, I mean I know not to take the threat letters personally, but their approach is still despicable." . . . "the mechanism which gives them the right to invade peoples' property on a whim seems as immoral as it does insulting.

Not only that but the blind assumption that everyone owns a TV and anyone who says otherwise is a liar is bloody annoying.