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Can TV licencing really tell if you are receiving broadcasts?
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she
If you're living in halls it would be very hard for them to prove the broadcasts are coming from your room.
This worries me. I'm the only person in my flat without a TV and therefore without a TV licence - So are they going to assume that I'm dodging it?
p78edu
Their sensors aren't sensitive enough to detect which house the tv is being operated in. I remember reading something about a 50m accuracy range? WTF is that about? That's absolutely useless unless you're trapping lonely shepherds in wales.
Maybe once upon a time.
Beams have direction, you could quite happily do it yourself if you had a radio tuned into the correct frequency. If you move closer it gets louder.
TommyWannabe
Ok then, sure.
The attitude isn't doing your argument any favours.
My question seems to be similar to many others: if I was the only one in my halls without a license, how would the van know it was me and not the guy next door?
No snide comments please, just the answer if you have one and an acceptance that that scenario is possible if you have no explanation.
TommyWannabe
Maybe once upon a time.
Beams have direction, you could quite happily do it yourself if you had a radio tuned into the correct frequency. If you move closer it gets louder.
Beams have direction, you could quite happily do it yourself if you had a radio tuned into the correct frequency. If you move closer it gets louder.
There has never, ever been a single conviction in the UK where they've used "detector van" data as evidence.
What about satellite connections?
I think it's utter bolleaux.
I know people who have gotten constant harresment from these people despite not even owning a tv.
I know people who have gotten constant harresment from these people despite not even owning a tv.
kiss_me_now9
This worries me. I'm the only person in my flat without a TV and therefore without a TV licence - So are they going to assume that I'm dodging it?
No, of course not!
Bubblebee
Till there is some undeniable proof (not put out by the beeb) then I am perfectly happy to assume they are a scare tactic and a silly deterent.
The Bubblebee Approach To TV Licensing: A Play, In One Act.
It is a dark, and possibly stormy night, as dramatic nights are wont to be. It is London, which allows for comical Cockney accents. A woman, Bubblebee, walks down a secluded alley, when a masked man jumps before her.
MAN: This is a robbery. Your money or your life.
BUBBLEBEE: Oh? 'oo says?
MAN: I do. I have a gun.
BUBBLEBEE: No, you don't! That's just yer fingers poking through yer cape, look! Or a banana in foil! Or just a funny-looking knife!
MAN: No, it's a gun.
BUBBLEBEE: Show us, then!
MAN: Here.
He shows her a gun. It has a handle, a trigger, and points in the direction of death.
BUBBLEBEE: Oh? And wot's 'at supposed to do, then?
MAN: The gun? Well, I'll shoot you.
BUBBLEBEE: Yer what?
MAN: Shoot you, you know, shoot? When I press the trigger, a bit of metal flies out the end, hits you, blood comes out of the hole in you, you bleed, and eventually die.
BUBBLEBEE: 'Ow's that supposed to work, then?
MAN: Eh?
BUBBLEBEE: That metal thingy! How's it getting from that gun thing into me! It's 'ardly going to walk 'ere, is it?
MAN: Well, when I press the button down, it activates a small explosive charge in this part of the gun, see, the barrel? That makes the bullet fly - fly out of this little hole here, you see? And that's what makes it go.
BUBBLEBEE: Prove it!
MAN: What? That's just what happens, that's science.
Bubblebee pauses to collect her thoughts.
BUBBLEBEE: Yeah, but it's not exactly impartial evidence, is it? You just want everyone to think you've got these magic kill-guns and men in black to give me a sound killing when we don't pay up, don't yer? You would say that, it's where you get your fundin'!
MAN: What do you want, exactly?
BUBBLEBEE: Well! 'till you give me some undeniable proof that this thing works, I'm just gonna say it's a scare tactic, aren' I? Some silly deterrent, in't it? An' I don't care much for your 'eavy 'anded method of collection, either! I ain't payin'! 'Ow do I know you 'aven't just filled that with water, or beans, or sumfink!
MAN: But, I just showed you...
BUBBLEBEE: I mean independently!
She calls to a passing gentleman.
BUBBLEBEE: Mister Jenkins, sir! 'Elp us aaht!
JENKINS (for it is he): Whatever is this racket?
BUBBLEBEE: 'ee thinks 'ee can fire metal into me with that stick-fing, an' yet 'ee 'as not one argument not tainted by 'is selfish prej'erdice!
JENKINS: Let me see?
MAN: With pleasure.
He shoots Bubblebee through the skull. She falls, dead.
JENKINS: Well, that could have come from anywhere.
END
thatguynooneknows
If your tv is CAPABLE of recieving transmissions then you MUST have a tv licence.
Even if you dont watch tv on it.
Even if you dont watch tv on it.
Wrong. The TV licensing organisation are purposefully misleading in how they word things in order to spread misinformation like this. You need a TV license for receiving broadcasts. You do not need one for simply having equipment that could be used for it.
Erik.
I heard there are all sorts of loopholes, you don't have to let them in the first time they come, they have to give you one warning before taking any action, don't know if it's all true but the general consesus among people I'v spoke to seems to be don't bother paying it 
I wouldn't say it's a loophole. People from TV licensing have no more right to come into your home than door-to-door salespeople and Jehova's Witnesses do. Unless they are accompanied by police officers (very, very unlikely) they have absolutely no power to do anything whatsoever. Most of the time they only catch people out by tricking them into admitting they've been watching TV. That's all they have the power to do.
This thread is so massively full of fail it's not funny.
That's quite simply wrong. Even read the relevant Acts: it's 'use' not 'being capable of use' - although use can be presumed in certain circumstances, it is an easily rebuttable presumption.
Evidently not, otherwise they'd have had to present their evidence in court and make it public knowledge that they have these things and exactly how they operate. Needless to say, they have not.
I don't doubt if the BBC put their mind to it that they could create something vaguely similar, but I don't think it would be sufficiently good evidence to bring about a conviction, and I don't see courts regularly granting warrants on that basis either. Plus there's quite simply no point: the BBC (or, rather, their agents) get by happily hoodwinking vulnerable and stupid people into making confessions, looking through windows and letting their 'inspectors' into their homes: it quite simply wouldn't be cost effective.
You don't have to let them in at all without a search warrant - and I've never heard of them getting one, even against long-term evaders. Even if you do confess to them, they quite often give you a chance to buy a TV licence there and then - but equally sometimes they will just take you to court. So don't rely on that one.
thatguynooneknows
If your tv is CAPABLE of recieving transmissions then you MUST have a tv licence.
Even if you dont watch tv on it.
Even if you dont watch tv on it.
That's quite simply wrong. Even read the relevant Acts: it's 'use' not 'being capable of use' - although use can be presumed in certain circumstances, it is an easily rebuttable presumption.
TommyWannabe
The amount of people in this thread that are wrong is hilarious.
Of course TV detector vans exist and work. We can send a man to the moon and split the atom but can't pick up a simple broadcast?
Last year they caught 440,000 people with the technology.
Of course TV detector vans exist and work. We can send a man to the moon and split the atom but can't pick up a simple broadcast?
Last year they caught 440,000 people with the technology.
Evidently not, otherwise they'd have had to present their evidence in court and make it public knowledge that they have these things and exactly how they operate. Needless to say, they have not.
I don't doubt if the BBC put their mind to it that they could create something vaguely similar, but I don't think it would be sufficiently good evidence to bring about a conviction, and I don't see courts regularly granting warrants on that basis either. Plus there's quite simply no point: the BBC (or, rather, their agents) get by happily hoodwinking vulnerable and stupid people into making confessions, looking through windows and letting their 'inspectors' into their homes: it quite simply wouldn't be cost effective.
Erik.
I heard there are all sorts of loopholes, you don't have to let them in the first time they come, they have to give you one warning before taking any action, don't know if it's all true but the general consesus among people I'v spoke to seems to be don't bother paying it
You don't have to let them in at all without a search warrant - and I've never heard of them getting one, even against long-term evaders. Even if you do confess to them, they quite often give you a chance to buy a TV licence there and then - but equally sometimes they will just take you to court. So don't rely on that one.
Unpossible
The Bubblebee Approach To TV Licensing: A Play, In One Act.
It is a dark, and possibly stormy night, as dramatic nights are wont to be. It is London, which allows for comical Cockney accents. A woman, Bubblebee, walks down a secluded alley, when a masked man jumps before her.
MAN: This is a robbery. Your money or your life.
BUBBLEBEE: Oh? 'oo says?
MAN: I do. I have a gun.
BUBBLEBEE: No, you don't! That's just yer fingers poking through yer cape, look! Or a banana in foil! Or just a funny-looking knife!
MAN: No, it's a gun.
BUBBLEBEE: Show us, then!
MAN: Here.
He shows her a gun. It has a handle, a trigger, and points in the direction of death.
BUBBLEBEE: Oh? And wot's 'at supposed to do, then?
MAN: The gun? Well, I'll shoot you.
BUBBLEBEE: Yer what?
MAN: Shoot you, you know, shoot? When I press the trigger, a bit of metal flies out the end, hits you, blood comes out of the hole in you, you bleed, and eventually die.
BUBBLEBEE: 'Ow's that supposed to work, then?
MAN: Eh?
BUBBLEBEE: That metal thingy! How's it getting from that gun thing into me! It's 'ardly going to walk 'ere, is it?
MAN: Well, when I press the button down, it activates a small explosive charge in this part of the gun, see, the barrel? That makes the bullet fly - fly out of this little hole here, you see? And that's what makes it go.
BUBBLEBEE: Prove it!
MAN: What? That's just what happens, that's science.
Bubblebee pauses to collect her thoughts.
BUBBLEBEE: Yeah, but it's not exactly impartial evidence, is it? You just want everyone to think you've got these magic kill-guns and men in black to give me a sound killing when we don't pay up, don't yer? You would say that, it's where you get your fundin'!
MAN: What do you want, exactly?
BUBBLEBEE: Well! 'till you give me some undeniable proof that this thing works, I'm just gonna say it's a scare tactic, aren' I? Some silly deterrent, in't it? An' I don't care much for your 'eavy 'anded method of collection, either! I ain't payin'! 'Ow do I know you 'aven't just filled that with water, or beans, or sumfink!
MAN: But, I just showed you...
BUBBLEBEE: I mean independently!
She calls to a passing gentleman.
BUBBLEBEE: Mister Jenkins, sir! 'Elp us aaht!
JENKINS (for it is he): Whatever is this racket?
BUBBLEBEE: 'ee thinks 'ee can fire metal into me with that stick-fing, an' yet 'ee 'as not one argument not tainted by 'is selfish prej'erdice!
JENKINS: Let me see?
MAN: With pleasure.
He shoots Bubblebee through the skull. She falls, dead.
JENKINS: Well, that could have come from anywhere.
END
It is a dark, and possibly stormy night, as dramatic nights are wont to be. It is London, which allows for comical Cockney accents. A woman, Bubblebee, walks down a secluded alley, when a masked man jumps before her.
MAN: This is a robbery. Your money or your life.
BUBBLEBEE: Oh? 'oo says?
MAN: I do. I have a gun.
BUBBLEBEE: No, you don't! That's just yer fingers poking through yer cape, look! Or a banana in foil! Or just a funny-looking knife!
MAN: No, it's a gun.
BUBBLEBEE: Show us, then!
MAN: Here.
He shows her a gun. It has a handle, a trigger, and points in the direction of death.
BUBBLEBEE: Oh? And wot's 'at supposed to do, then?
MAN: The gun? Well, I'll shoot you.
BUBBLEBEE: Yer what?
MAN: Shoot you, you know, shoot? When I press the trigger, a bit of metal flies out the end, hits you, blood comes out of the hole in you, you bleed, and eventually die.
BUBBLEBEE: 'Ow's that supposed to work, then?
MAN: Eh?
BUBBLEBEE: That metal thingy! How's it getting from that gun thing into me! It's 'ardly going to walk 'ere, is it?
MAN: Well, when I press the button down, it activates a small explosive charge in this part of the gun, see, the barrel? That makes the bullet fly - fly out of this little hole here, you see? And that's what makes it go.
BUBBLEBEE: Prove it!
MAN: What? That's just what happens, that's science.
Bubblebee pauses to collect her thoughts.
BUBBLEBEE: Yeah, but it's not exactly impartial evidence, is it? You just want everyone to think you've got these magic kill-guns and men in black to give me a sound killing when we don't pay up, don't yer? You would say that, it's where you get your fundin'!
MAN: What do you want, exactly?
BUBBLEBEE: Well! 'till you give me some undeniable proof that this thing works, I'm just gonna say it's a scare tactic, aren' I? Some silly deterrent, in't it? An' I don't care much for your 'eavy 'anded method of collection, either! I ain't payin'! 'Ow do I know you 'aven't just filled that with water, or beans, or sumfink!
MAN: But, I just showed you...
BUBBLEBEE: I mean independently!
She calls to a passing gentleman.
BUBBLEBEE: Mister Jenkins, sir! 'Elp us aaht!
JENKINS (for it is he): Whatever is this racket?
BUBBLEBEE: 'ee thinks 'ee can fire metal into me with that stick-fing, an' yet 'ee 'as not one argument not tainted by 'is selfish prej'erdice!
JENKINS: Let me see?
MAN: With pleasure.
He shoots Bubblebee through the skull. She falls, dead.
JENKINS: Well, that could have come from anywhere.
END
I think that's very good, well done. Brilliant interpretation of the TVLA.
Well, when my mum rang them to buy my TV licence the women said to her that there has been no transmission being recieved at the property so make of that what you will.
I, personally wouldn't want to chance it.
I, personally wouldn't want to chance it.
Bubblebee
Oh and by the way, I don't not pay my tv license because I don't want to, I don't pay it because of the heavy-handed and threatening ways they go about collecting the money.
Is there any particular reason you don't want to pay? Or are you just mean? I find the £135 a year fairly good value.
You're only paying for the BBC with a Tv licence so if you can prove that you never watch/listen etc. anything related to the BBC then you wouldnt have to pay it. Good luck proving it though, not that you would ever get caught i suppose, the adverts are just to scare everyone into paying it.
TommyWannabe
The amount of people in this thread that are wrong is hilarious.
Of course TV detector vans exist and work. We can send a man to the moon and split the atom but can't pick up a simple broadcast?
Your TV contains a local oscillator. High frequency 'TV' signals are first interpretted by the oscillator in order to lower the frequency and make it more manageble to the visual and audio equipment on your TV.
The oscillator emits an electromagnetic signal, which can be readily picked up by someone in the vicinity (I.e. in the street).
Not only this but the oscillator signal frequency is always 39.5MhZ higher than the requency of the channel you're watching.
Not only can they tell whether the TV is on, they can tell what channel you're watching.
Last year they caught 440,000 people with the technology.
Edit: Obviously the data and address is taken and sent back to the main database (called LASSY), where it will quickly tell them you don't have a license.
Edit 2: They can also just measure the EM radiation from your timebase scanning coils. Doesn't tell them what channel you're on but it does tell them you're watching a broadcast.
Of course TV detector vans exist and work. We can send a man to the moon and split the atom but can't pick up a simple broadcast?
Your TV contains a local oscillator. High frequency 'TV' signals are first interpretted by the oscillator in order to lower the frequency and make it more manageble to the visual and audio equipment on your TV.
The oscillator emits an electromagnetic signal, which can be readily picked up by someone in the vicinity (I.e. in the street).
Not only this but the oscillator signal frequency is always 39.5MhZ higher than the requency of the channel you're watching.
Not only can they tell whether the TV is on, they can tell what channel you're watching.
Last year they caught 440,000 people with the technology.
Edit: Obviously the data and address is taken and sent back to the main database (called LASSY), where it will quickly tell them you don't have a license.
Edit 2: They can also just measure the EM radiation from your timebase scanning coils. Doesn't tell them what channel you're on but it does tell them you're watching a broadcast.
Someone's fallen for their scaremongering, fabricated crap haven't they? Have you ever studied Physics? What you just described is IMPOSSIBLE. Every single piece of electrical equipment everywhere emits EM radiation, they cannot "see" or detect your tv, and the crap about seeing which channel you're watching is the funniest. They must thing the UK is full of senseless morons. To be fair to them though, they like using these technical words and they love sending out threatening letters because OF COURSE they want us to believe it. Anyone with a spark of common sense knows they are full of it, but sadly it still taps into the more gullible and conformist of society. You.nearlyheadlessian
Is there any particular reason you don't want to pay? Or are you just mean? I find the £135 a year fairly good value.
It may be good value... However, Tesco's bulk toilet paper may also be good value yet I wouldn't let them bully me into paying! If the TV licence is good value, they should go back to advertising it as such and getting payments out of people that way. This whole "Gonna send the boys round" has to stop.
Pineconesoup
You're only paying for the BBC with a Tv licence so if you can prove that you never watch/listen etc. anything related to the BBC then you wouldnt have to pay it. Good luck proving it though, not that you would ever get caught i suppose, the adverts are just to scare everyone into paying it.
Wrong. If you only watch channel 4 - you still have to pay a licence.
sweetlovinchick2k1
Well, when my mum rang them to buy my TV licence the women said to her that there has been no transmission being recieved at the property so make of that what you will.
I, personally wouldn't want to chance it.
I, personally wouldn't want to chance it.
If you know what to do in the situations that could arise by not buying one, there's not really any chance to it at all
Pineconesoup
You're only paying for the BBC with a Tv licence so if you can prove that you never watch/listen etc. anything related to the BBC then you wouldnt have to pay it. Good luck proving it though, not that you would ever get caught i suppose, the adverts are just to scare everyone into paying it.
Rubbish. You're supposed to pay a tv licence regardless of the channel you are watching, that goes for sky/freeview etc too.
sweetlovinchick2k1
Well, when my mum rang them to buy my TV licence the women said to her that there has been no transmission being recieved at the property so make of that what you will.
I, personally wouldn't want to chance it.
I, personally wouldn't want to chance it.
Not being funny, but why would they say that? A. Why would it matter that there hadn't been any transmissions being received, and B. Surely they would have done something if there HAD been before you got your licence?
I don't like the TVLA, they keep sending me nasty, threatening letters about how they're going to fine me if I don't contact them and pay my TV licence RIGHT NOW!!!
I don't have a TV.
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