TV Licence Inspectors

[sledger]

**** me I enjoy having arguments with these people.

They are aggressive, hostile, bullying ****s, and I love refusing to let them into my house and watching them throw a fit.

W@nkers.

 

[GIMH]

The idea of a licence to watch TV is so ludicrous that even a commie like Burgey has scoffed at it

Demand a ‘knocking on sledger’s door’ licence next time

 

[sledger]

Fully agree. It's great winding them up though.

My favourites include:

- I'm sorry, I don't let strangers into my house.

- Which law is that exactly? (in response to being told it's against "the law" to watch TV without a licence)

- Shouldn't have thought so. (in response to being asked "can I come in?")

 

[Uppercut]

Fully agree. It's great winding them up though.

My favourites include:

- I'm sorry, I don't let strangers into my house.

- Which law is that exactly? (in response to being told it's against "the law" to watch TV without a licence)

- Shouldn't have thought so. (in response to being asked "can I come in?")

TV Licence man: "We know you have a TV"
UC snr: "How so?"
TV Licence man: "There's a cable box right there beside your door"
UC snr: "There's a milk bottle beside the house next door. Does that mean they have a cow?"

 

[sledger]

The best is when they start saying that I "have" to let them in.

They really get both barrels when they break that one out.

 

[Daemon]

What the hell is a TV license and why is it a thing?

 

[sledger]

What the hell is a TV license and why is it a thing?

In the UK it's a crime to watch TV without a licence.

And because statism.

 

[Uppercut]

What the hell is a TV license and why is it a thing?

To own a TV in the UK you have to pay £160~ a year for a "license". Money goes to funding the BBC.

Also, for some reason, the body in charge of collecting it are a pack of unspeakable throbbers, absolute ****s. I can't stress strongly enough how rancid they are.

If I believed in anything it would probably get me pretty angry.

 

[sledger]

To own a TV in the UK you have to pay £160~ a year for a "license". Money goes to funding the BBC.

Also, for some reason, the body in charge of collecting it are a pack of unspeakable throbbers, absolute ****s. I can't stress strongly enough how rancid they are.

If I believed in anything it would probably get me pretty angry.

Tbf it's not actually owning the TV that's the issue. It's using it to watch television as it is being broadcast. Or using iPlayer.

But yes completely agree with the bold.

 

[Daemon]

Why do they need these gentlemen to knock on doors to collect money? Surely there's a way to simply cut off your cable if you haven't paid up.

 

[sledger]

Why do they need these gentlemen to knock on doors to collect money? Surely there's a way to simply cut off your cable if you haven't paid up.

In the old days there was no way of stopping radio spectrum, so you couldn't cut off the TV.

These days most people's services are provided digitally, but by private companies, so they have no jurisdiction to cut that off either.

 

[harsh.ag]

Haha this is the oddest fee. 'Fund the BBC'

 

[dontcloseyoureyes]

Wish they'd shown up while I was there. Would've been a great conversation to have.

 

[Daemon]

In the old days there was no way of stopping radio spectrum, so you couldn't cut off the TV.

These days most people's services are provided digitally, but by private companies, so they have no jurisdiction to cut that off either.

Haha this is such an odd concept at times for me to grasp because my first instinct is always to think of what Singapore does - regulate everything.

Even we don't need a license to watch TV though, that's a bit silly.

 

[sledger]

Wish they'd shown up while I was there. Would've been a great conversation to have.

Haha they must have known you were here. Went through a spate of activity just before you arrived and after you left.

The letters they leave are almost as bad as the goons who deliver them. Basically just loads of bullshit faux legalese which say things like "you are now under investigation". Makes it sound like something important when in reality their capacity to investigate you is as extensive as my ability to post constructively in CC.

 

[sledger]

Haha this is such an odd concept at times for me to grasp because my first instinct is always to think of what Singapore does - regulate everything.

Even we don't need a license to watch TV though, that's a bit silly.

Yeah, it's really dumb because the TV licensing authority isn't actually a government department. It's basically just a private company itself charged with overseeing the administration of the licensing scheme, and so it has no legal power to do more or less anything. This doesn't stop them from being officious ***** about it of course, but unless you actually let them into your house they can't do jack **** to you.

So even if you are of the persuasion that the licensing scheme is good (it's not), the people in charge of enforcing the scheme are completely toothless, which makes a complete mockery of the entire thing.

 

[Uppercut]

I think a lot of their overt dickish behaviour comes from their lack of teeth (not that I'm advocating giving them teeth, **** no). If they had any legal power to make people pay then they wouldn't have to spend all their time terrorising poor people into doing it. They're kind of like one of those little dogs that bark incessantly to compensate.

 

[Teja.]

A compulsory fee to the government to watch TV sounds like a huge farce. Is the existence of this ever debated by the legislature? The BBC must enjoy a high public approval rating to pull off something like this for so long, not that it's any justification.

 

[Daemon]

To own a TV in the UK you have to pay £160~ a year for a "license". Money goes to funding the BBC.

Also, for some reason, the body in charge of collecting it are a pack of unspeakable throbbers, absolute ****s. I can't stress strongly enough how rancid they are.

If I believed in anything it would probably get me pretty angry.

Well they can't be all that bad, they're generous enough to offer 50% off the TV licensing fees to blind people.

 

[Tom Halsey]

Yeah the entire concept of the licence fee is ludicrous IMO. I would pay it anyway were it not compulsory in order to receive the BBC, because as a rule I enjoy a lot of their programming, but that's not a defence of the concept.