I am not paying my tv licence this year on purpose.I feel that being forced to pay for something i dont want to recive,( bbc 1 and bbc 2) is against my freedom of choice totally. Infact its paramount to being bullied. Any legal bods think i have a case?. thanks. tom
2006-12-05 04:40:26 · 19 answers · asked by tom 1 in Politics & Government ➔ Law & Ethics
I can only once remember an argument like yours succeeding in the many TV licensing courts it has been my lot to sit through. The person in question had a TV, but did not use it to receive any programmes. She used it purely as a video receiver for purposes of study. It was not capable of receiving BBC programmes, a fact which the prosecutor was able to confirm.
I suspect that you own a TV and that you occasionally watch BBC programmes on it. If this is the case, then you should pay for your licence along with the rest of the viewing public. If you are taken to court, you will end up paying for the period during which you were not covered by a licence plus a fine (worked out as a multiplier of the amount of money you saved over that period) plus costs and if you have not taken steps to remedy the situation by obtaining a licence, then you may expect to be prosecuted yet again in the near future, on which occasion the fine is likely to be even greater, as you are now a hardened offender.
We all as citizens have to pay for things which we don't approve of and dislike intensely (I wish I could argue a case for not paying for Ken Livingstone!), but that is life. If you don't want to pay for your licence, get rid of your TV.
2006-12-05 06:31:54 · answer #1 · answered by Doethineb 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I have not had a licence for over 30 years. The licence people keep making various threats and I keep the letters in a large file in case I ever need to take THEM to court for harassment.
I do not have a TV but I am not letting them into the house without a warrant. Then I will take them to court with maximum media coverage.
2006-12-05 12:55:44 · answer #2 · answered by bwadsp 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
No
In America it's a quazi hidden tax. Congress allocates funds for the arts from our tax dollars and PBS (the Positively Boring Station) gets a lot of it! And a lot of what PBS does with American Tax Dollars is pay it you to Brits for your Postively Boring TV shows from the BBC
Just be thankful they don't "scramble" all your stations and make you buy a new chip each year at an increased fee.
They could do that if they wanted to. They could encode the signal and change the code each year and make you buy a hard wired chip to unscramble it.
If it were a 512 bit crypto code it would be extremely hard for a hacker to break.
2006-12-05 14:11:02 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
I sympathise with what you say, But it is the law that any tv must be licensed. I myself do object to an increase in the fee every year.I also think that the BBC wates so much money on Programmes on the TV and radio which has a very small audience. E.G. BBC 4, BBC5. BBC 7, and so on. then there is RADIO4, and RADIO5. WHAT A WASTE OF LICENSE MONEY.
2006-12-05 12:52:20 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Tom, Best advice (as many others have given) is just to get a licence You will have read what happens to people who dont pay their council tax on the basis that their bins are not emptied every week!
If you want to watch TV, get the licence. And stop being an arrogant tit
2006-12-05 12:54:29 · answer #5 · answered by fozmonkey 2 · 1⤊ 1⤋
You're not really just paying for the BBC stations - and they have a load more nowadays. You're paying for the right to keep a piece of equipment that can recieve TV signals. So you are paying for something you use.
If you don't pay they will make you pay an enormous fine
2006-12-05 12:47:12 · answer #6 · answered by SteveT 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
You haven't a chance. You need a television licence to recieve tranmissions of television signals. It doesn't matter which channel you watch. Even if you don't have a televison, you still need a licence to watch any t.v. programme streamed into the computer. Where does the bullying come in? You have a choice, buy a licence, watch tv programmes or don't buy a licence and don't be a part of the 21 Century.
2006-12-05 12:47:15 · answer #7 · answered by Raymo 6 · 2⤊ 2⤋
i know exaclty where you are coming from mate i have an idea to stop this all happening and im taking it to london soon to show the big wigs what the plans are.. its a rip off i never watch bbc either all i do is watch dvds channel 4 and play my xbox so why should i pay for crap channels?
2006-12-05 12:57:44 · answer #8 · answered by nommie 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I'm not a legal bod either, but surely you could only argue the case if you could prove you weren't receiving the BBC channels.
2006-12-05 12:45:58 · answer #9 · answered by filmwatcher59 4 · 0⤊ 1⤋
The TV Licence is a form of tax. If you don't pay, you'll be treated the same way as any other tax dodger.
2006-12-05 12:45:18 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋