Full Guide to Dealing With Tv Licensing

FULL GUIDE TO DEALING WITH TV LICENSING

This is our all in one guide to help you deal with TV Licensing and their Agents (Goons as we call them)

A lot of people tend to just stop paying them all together which is one of the reasons why they are hassled by goons,

letters and on occasion end up with a court summons, search warrant and/or a hefty fine.

Disclaimer: The methods we provide have been tested and are known to work, although these methods may require

updating from time as TV Licensing change their tactics and become more aggressive, with that being said all

guides/advice given by us is to be used at your own discretion as we strongly encourage you to do your own research.

You are hereby given permission to use this document and its content for personal use only, we the Active Resistance

to the TV Licence reserve all rights to this document.

Notice: We at the Active Resistance will never ask you for personal information; we always encourage you to keep all

your information private and to never ever share your personal information with anyone online or in person unless you

know what its being used for.

Update: Please be aware and cautious of other pages claiming to be the resistance, they may use this

guide on their page and they may try to charge you for their services. If any other page or site uses this guide please

report this to us, you can find us on facebook: Activeresistancetothetvlicence.

https://www.facebook.com/activeresistancetothetvlicence

INDEX

Page 01 Introduction Page 02 Index Page 03 Frequently Asked Questions (note: updated 03 Oct 2014) Page 06 Guide 01; Dealing with Goons Page 07 Template Letter; Active Licence Cancellation & Declaration Page 07 Template Letter; Non-Licensee Harassment & Declaration; Legal Occupier Page 08 Guide 02; Cancellation by phone (note: updated 12 June 2014) Page 08 Online Application; Both Non/Active Licences Cancellation & Declaration Page 09 Guide 03; Using a WOIRA (note: updated 12 June 2014) Page 10 Template Letter; Second Harassment, Declaration with WOIRA Warning; Legal Occupier Page 10 Template Letter; Harassment + WOIRA; Legal Occupier Page 11 Template Letter; WOIRA; Legal Occupier Page 11 Defence Against a Search Warrant Page 12 Cheapest way out of a fine! (note: updated 03 Oct 2014 you can only use this once)

F.A.Q

What is the Active Resistance to the TVL? To simply put it, we are the resistance against the BBC TV licence

fee; our goal is to get the fee abolished. Those who cannot afford to pay or simply dont watch the BBC channels are

constantly harassed by thugs whom we like to refer to as goons, they use many methods to achieve their goal and we

are here to help you fight back. We do our best to provide you with information that will not only keep you licence free

but will also help you defend yourself against these thugs. We are not affiliated with any other resistance, we do

however have a secondary back up page in case our current page gets shutdown. If you havent already you can find

us on facebook at active resistance to the tv licence and our backup page viva la tv licence resistance.

What is a live broadcast, and am I receiving it? A broadcast is a signal which is transmitted and received by a

device that can then translate that signal into audio and/or an image. An example of this would be a radio or a TV,

when a radio station sends out a signal the radio would receive that signal and translate the audio giving us music and

so on.

Now when someone mentions live broadcast, the exact same thing is occurring except this means the broadcast is in

real time, give or take a few seconds. For example all channels BBC, UTV, SKY etc. are all being broadcasted live,

some of the programs on that channel may have been pre-recorded but the broadcast station is transmitting that

program live to your TV. There is a service known as catch up which is not a live broadcast, as catch up gives you

the ability to watch previously aired programs; catch up is essentially a service that records programs received from a

live broadcast which then allows you to re-watch those programs. An example of a catch up service would be BBC

iPlayer.

How do I cancel my TV Licence? Your payment method is very important at this point, if your method of payment

is a payment card then you must cancel by phone or letter for any other method you can cancel by phone, letter or

online. (Note: Use the index to help you navigate to the appropriate section.)

My TV Licence is up for renewal, how do I cancel? If youre not planning on renewing your licence then the

simplest way to cancel would be to let it run out. If you dont renew your licence then it will automatically cancel

(excludes payment cards); after your renewal date, simply return future letters unopened with Return to sender, no

longer resides written on it, this will trigger the legal occupier and then all you have to do is bin the letters that are

addressed to the legal occupier.

Why are payment cards different than every other payment method? Agreeing to the payment card gives

TV Licensing more power to use against you e.g. Debt Collector; this is because a payment card is a loan, with this

card TV Licensing claim to have paid in full for your licence and upon agreeing to pay by payment card you are also

agreeing to back this loan, which means you owe them the total amount of the fee. You must pay for the first 6 months

before cancelling otherwise this will turn into debt and you will be powerless against TV Licensing in this matter, the

payment card will automatically renew until you cancel it, so its important that you do this and receive confirmation,

after 6 months any money you pay will be seen as advanced payments which means when cancelling you would be

owed money paid after the 6 month period, although receiving a full refund is different story.

Where do I send my letter?

Send your letter by recorded delivery to the following address

Customer Relations

TV Licensing

Darlington

DL98 1TL

Why should I send it by recorded delivery? I always recommend sending letters by recorded delivery in fact I

always advise everyone to send a letter to TV Licensing instead of using the other methods, also keeping a copy of

the letter you sent is always good practice.

The reason for this is evidence, if you send them a letter by recorded delivery they cannot ignore it, you will have their

signature proving they received it, this means when cancelling you will have proof they received your letter plus you

will have a copy of the letter you sent. This is by far the best method when speaking to them as they have the

tendency to ignore the phone and online method.

https://www.facebook.com/activeresistancetothetvlicencehttps://www.facebook.com/resistingthetvlicence

What is a WOIRA? Withdrawal of implied rights of access, also known as Removal of implied rights of access; now

some people are confused about WOIRAs, to simply put it every one has implied rights to step foot onto your

property Postman, Police, Friends, Family etc.. this does not mean they can just walk into your home as that

requires your consent but they can enter your garden which is your property or if you dont have a garden they can

knock on your door. So when using WOIRA what your essentially telling someone is if you step foot onto my property

you will be trespassing, trespassing is a crime and you can phone the police to have that person removed from your

property. The only way anyone can enter your home is by your consent or a search warrant if someone enters your

home without consent they are trespassing. If you consented to someone entering your home, you can remove your

consent by telling them to leave, if they refuse to leave tell them that they are now trespassing and if they do not leave

you will contact the police.

What are my rights when it comes to TV Licensing? WOIRA is just one of your many rights as a human

being and as a person, but here are some other rights that you may or may not have known.

You have the Right to Privacy.

You have the Right to Remain Silent.

You have the Right to Record any and all persons in public or on your property; this is covered under the Freedom

of Speech/Expression/The Press.

There are so many Rights that you are unaware of that its practically a crime against knowledge, I would advise those

willing to educate themselves to learn the difference between law and legislation and to also look up your rights.

Google, Youtube and TPUC.org is where I started-MFS

Your rights dont just apply to the goons but to everyone regardless of who they are. The more you educate yourself

the better equipped you are to handle yourself in the legal/lawful world.

Should I worry about search warrants? Honestly no, if someone has a search warrant they cannot use force to

enter your home unless the warrant permits it, if the warrant does not state anything about using force then

they cannot use force to enter your home, Instead they rely on forced consent because if you do not consent then

you are obstructing the warrant. The only other way they can enter your home is if a door or a window is left open and

there is nothing obstructing that entrance an example would be you standing in front of your door, this prevents

them from entering without the use of force. Now the odds of you ever receiving a warrant is so slim that you

could go your entire life without ever receiving one, in fact you can avoid a search warrant by using the simple No

Contact method. (Note: Refer to index - Defence against a Search Warrant)

Our guides are intended to help prevent Search Warrants, Court Summons and Fines although we urge you

to do your own research and only use what we provide as guidance, remember your first line of defence

should always be no contact

Im being harassed what can I do? If you feel that you are being harassed, you can send TV licensing a letter

not only informing them of the harassment but to also declare that you do not need a licence. It is important that you

send them a letter informing them of the harassment before taking further action (such as the WOIRA) as this can be

used as evidence to help you if you ever went to court regarding the matter. Like many of your rights you are also

protected against harassment, this is why goons will come to your home about once or twice every two weeks and

they will only send letters to your home once a month. It is up to you to prove they are harassing you, so sending a

letter informing them that you feel they are harassing you is a good start.

What is the Safety rating about? This is your chances of receiving a search warrant or court summons, 1

is extremely likely, 10 is not a chance. I added this to some of the methods, so you can visually see the

odds of you encountering a search warrant/court summons.

Can TVL use sky/virgin to get personal information/see if Im actively watching live TV? This is a grey

area as skys T&C states We may share information with credit reference and fraud prevention

agencies for use in credit decisions, and for fraud detection and prevention purposes. So some

believe this to be some sort of a loop hole, but admins and other followers have sky and theyve never been caught,

on top of that its never been heard off, plus TVL isnt a credit reference or fraud prevention agency and if they did use

this to gain information it would be obtained illegally and under false pretences.

As for virgins T&C We will not continue to provide you with television services if we find out that you

do not have a valid television licence. Virgin Media Entertainment will also cease to provide you

with premium television services in these circumstances. This seems to imply that you would lose

your services, if they found out you dont have a licence, I honestly think this was added to their T&C to

cover their own ass. Now this doesnt mean TVL will be able to get personal information about you as this

would be a breach of the data protection act, but if virgin media decided to investigate whether or not the

property was licenced and found out it wasnt then virgin media would turn of your services.

Conclusion

Considering no one has ever heard of sky or virgin media providing TVL with any information, and

considering Virgin media specifically has never been known to turn someones services off due to the

customer not owning a TV licence, this leaves me with the conclusion that you should be fine and that TVL

does not and cannot gather personal information from virgin or sky. If they ever did this would be obtained

illegally and in skys case, under false pretences.

Dealing with Goons

Goons receive a commission for each house they secure a licence in; they are trained to deceive you, normally they

require you to enter into a contract with them by giving your name and confirming your address. It has become

increasingly common for these goons to take your name and falsify the rest of the information even if youre not the

occupant of that house. They may even convince you to sign a piece of paper with the misconception that they will

leave you alone.

We always advise people to use the No Contact method, as this is the most effective way to deal with TV Licensing

and their goons; Say Nothing, Do Nothing and nothing can be done to you. (Safety rating: 10/10) as off 30/08/2014

But this isnt always easy, as one day you may come face to face with one of them and you may not want to be rude,

now we never encourage you to be rude to them however a simple Not interested then closing the door is all it takes.

Goons will always try to get three things from you, Name, Occupancy and Signature; they will usually go to your home

and ask a simple question.

You see their questions will always be so simple that you wouldnt think twice about answering them, but once you

give them your name and confirm that you are the occupant of the address, you will soon be receiving letters

threatening court action if you do not buy a licence. Now the biggest scam is when they trick you into signing a form,

usually they will tell you;

This form they get you to sign, known as the 178 form, it is an admission of guilt; upon signing this you admit that you

are guilty of not owning a TV licence while receiving a live broadcast signal, once you sign on that dotted line the goon

gets 20 commission and you get a hefty fine + forced to pay for a licence.

So how do you protect yourself against this? Simple, dont answer any questions. When someone especially a

stranger calls to your home, the first thing they are required to do is to IDENTIFY THEMSELVES, if they dont

introduce themselves upon opening the door then 99% of the time they will be goons. Now of course you will get the

odd person who fails to identify themselves at the start, this is why you always ask for some form of photographic I.D,

no I.D, no thanks; its really that simple. But even if the person turns out to be a Goon, dont sign anything, say

anything or do anything other than end the conversation.

Example;

{Knock! Knock! -Open door}

Stranger: Hi, Im John from Netflix

You: Hi, Can I see some Identification please?

Stranger: Sorry I dont have my I.D with me.

You: Im sorry but unless you have identification to prove you are who you say you are then I am unable to continue

this conversation, have a nice day.

{Close door}

Youve not been rude, youve not answered any questions & if he had shown I.D you wouldve confirmed who he was.

Template Letters

Active Licence Cancellation & Declaration

To whom it may concern,

As of todays date Enter Date I wish to cancel my television licence Enter Licence Number.

I do not require a television licence, as I do not receive or record live television broadcasts. Please send confirmation that you have updated my address in your database and that you acknowledge my cancellation. Yours Sincerely

Enter your Address here

Harassment & Declaration; Legal Occupier

To whom it may concern,

As I am suffering the harassment of companies trying to sell me your service I feel strongly that I must ask you to remove 'Enter your address' from your database of persons requiring a licence.

Although I am not lawfully obliged to inform you of anything, I will take this opportunity to do so respectfully. I do not

require a television licence, as I do not receive or record live television broadcasts.

Furthermore I ask that you send confirmation in writing that you have updated your database accordingly for the address mentioned above. Yours sincerely

The Legal Occupier

Guide 02; Cancellation by phone

UPDATE: TVL Call Centre staff will no longer accept cancellation without confirmation of licence holder details. Also note that staff have the tendency to lie about cancelations, they also claim that they no longer send confirmation letters, but its still a good idea to request this and if possible push them for it as you will need proof of the cancelation.

Its best to use the direct TV Licence cancellation procedure, this is your lawful right which you may not be aware of or have had omitted from you when asked about your licence status.

Call 0300 790 6131 and follow the steps to be put through to sale advisor, you will be waiting around 10 minutes when a well-trained advisor will great you with;

May I have your licence and Customer number Please?

Give them your licence number, they may ask you to confirm the details of the licence for security, you may wish to do this but it is not necessary as you have the right to withhold your information under the Date Protection Act, if they insist on confirmation answer with the following statement;

I can confirm my name is on your documents.

This is sufficient; they may be awkward as they are getting more resistant, so next assert your rights to cancel immediately; simply inform the advisor I no longer require a licence, tell them this and only this; do not confirm whether or not you watch TV, simply repeat it if necessary, they will remind you of the LAW thank them and move on.

Be assertive, they will be testing you because they dont know what else to do, make sure you ask clearly for all your requests to be confirmed in writing to the address on the account you are cancelling, for your records.

Thats it, once you receive your confirmation letter regarding the cancellation, which can take between 2-4 weeks, you will then be licence free for two years, just confirm nothings changed in two years but never give your name or confirm any details. They will state that they will send someone round to check, (Note: Refer to index - Dealing with Goons)

Online Application; Both Non/Active Licences Cancellation & Declaration

If you are legally licence free, you can make a simple no licence required declaration, TVL will confirm this and shouldnt bother you again for up to 2 years.

http://www.tvlicensing.co.uk/no-licence-needed/

If you currently have a TV Licence, you can email TVL using the form.

https://www.tvlicensing.co.uk/contact-us

Guide 03; Using a WOIRA

Okay so you want to exercise this right, well it is pretty simple to do but I must warn you that doing this could potentially give TV Licensing a reason to snag a search warrant, again the odds are slim but you need to know what youre getting into, misusing the WOIRA can end with them at your door, search warrant in hand. Now I did say misuse because thats exactly what a lot of people do, the WOIRA is like a loaded gun misusing it can cause problems, in the case of a WOIRA it can increase your chances of TVL coming to your door with a search warrant, again even if it increased your chances the odds are still slim.

Now lets see how we can use the WOIRA to our advantage; first off, dont tell every goon you see that your withdrawing their implied rights of access, all this means is a different goon will come to your door and nothing is accomplished. You also want to avoid using it right away this will make you look suspicious.

Update: We have been notified that to prevent search warrants occurring after using WOIRA make sure you havent received a visit from a goon within 6 months, goons have 6 months to write out an application for a search warrant after visiting a home, sending the WOIRA 6 months after a visit prevents the goon from being able to falsify the application required to get a warrant. Due to this we will now have two methods for using a WOIRA, however we always recommend to use a WOIRA as a last resort, no contact should always be your first line of defence against TVL.

Method: 6-Month-Wait (Safety rating: 10/10) as off 30/08/2014 If you havent received a visit for 6 months or more, then you should be fine to use the WOIRA. Remember no contact should be your first line of defenceJC (Note: Refer to index - WOIRA; Legal Occupier)

Method: Within 6 months (Safety rating: 8/10) as off 30/08/2014 So here is what I call The Safe Guide to using a WOIRA against TVL

First off if youve just cancelled you should not need to do this but after you received your first two letters, if you start receiving anymore letters addressed to you from TVL, then start sending them back with Return to sender, no longer resides the goal here is to remove your name from that address, and simply returning it with that phrase written on it will trigger the legal occupier.

Next once youre the legal occupier, This also applies to those who are already receiving mail as the legal occupier, you want to wait until you receive your second goon. (Note: Refer to index - Dealing with Goons)

Now after your second goon you will send a letter informing TV Licensing that you are being harassed, in this letter

you will also declare to them that you do not need a TV Licence; if you are unsure what to write dont worry we have a

template letter (Note: Refer to index - Non-Licensee Harassment & Declaration)

Next you should receive two letters from TV Licensing, the first letter will be the confirmation letter which will say some

something along the lines of We are sorry you arent happy with the way we do blah..., the next letter will be a

default letter they send which will say something like You are licence free for 2 years, we may send someone

round to make sure you are properly un-licenced, They may send someone but if youre lucky you wont receive

another goon at your door for 2 years, if you do then just deal with them. (Note: Refer to index - Dealing with Goons)

Now this is where we begin our path to using the WOIRA, if you receive another goon, This goon would technically

be your second goon after receiving your confirmation and default letter from TVL simply deal with them the

same way you did the previous one. Next you want to send them another letter this letter will threaten the use of the

WOIRA and is basically the same as your first letter you sent except it will be tweaked a bit. (Note: Refer to index -

Second Non-Licensee Harassment, Declaration with WOIRA Warning)

Now, again you should receive a confirmation letter and probably another default template letter, if you receive a goon at your door simply deal with them like before, you will now be in the position to use the WOIRA. (Note: Refer to index - Harassment + WOIRA; Legal Occupier)

If you are lucky enough, you will only have to send the first harassment letter, if not then the second letter should do the trick as the last thing they want you to do is revoke their implied rights, but if they chance their arm then send the WOIRA and you should not receive any harassment for 2 years, if any goon comes to your home inform them they are trespassing and phone the police (if you want). Ive personally used this method and havent had any issues, however I cannot guarantee the same results for others MFS

Template Letter

Harassment, Declaration with WOIRA Warning; Legal Occupier

To whom it may concern,

I previously contacted yourselves regarding the harassment Ive been receiving from companies trying to sell me your service; as I am still suffering harassment of companies trying to sell me your service, I feel strongly that I must ask you again to remove 'Enter your address' from your database of persons requiring a licence.

Although I am not lawfully obliged to inform you of anything I will take this opportunity to do so yet again, I do not require a television licence, as I do not receive or record live television broadcasts.

I am now beginning to feel that you are intentionally ignoring my notice and declaration, with that in mind I am hereby giving official notice that if I receive further harassment I will be left with no alternative than to revoke all implied rights to the address mentioned above.

Furthermore I ask that you send confirmation in writing regarding my notice, declaration and that you have updated your database accordingly. Yours sincerely

The Legal Occupier

Harassment + WOIRA; Legal Occupier

To whom it may concern,

This is the third time Ive been forced to contact yourselves as Ive been suffering harassment of companies trying to

sell me your service, within my previous letters I declared that I did not require a licence and that I was being

harassed, my last letter informed yourselves that if I continued to receive harassment I would remove all implied rights

of access to my property.

I am writing to you now as I am still receiving harassment by companies trying to sell me your service, I now hereby

give notice that any IMPLIED RIGHTS OF ACCESS to the property known as '123 Address, Town, Postcode' has

been revoked in respect to the following;

a) Any employee, agent or any other person acting on behalf of the BBC or TV LICENSING.

b) Any employee, agent or any other person acting as third party Agents for/or on behalf of the BBC or TV

LICENSING.

Please also note that there is no legal requirement on an individual to provide their name in order to remove any

implied rights of access, do not send further correspondence to try and confirm any personal information.

I expect confirmation in writing that you have received this notice and that you will adhere to it.

Other than confirming my notice to the removal of your implied rights of access, I no longer wish to receive any

communication from BBC, TV LICENSING, CAPITA BUSINESS SERVICES LTD or any other third party company

working on their behalf, further communication by any method will be considered harassment.

Yours sincerely

The legal Occupier

WOIRA; Legal Occupier

To whom it may concern,

I hereby give notice that any IMPLIED RIGHTS OF ACCESS to the property known as '123 Address, Town, Postcode'

has been revoked in respect to the following;

a) Any employee, agent or any other person acting on behalf of the BBC or TV LICENSING.

b) Any employee, agent or any other person acting as third party Agents for/or on behalf of the BBC or TV

LICENSING.

Please also note that there is no legal requirement on an individual to provide their name in order to remove any

implied rights of access, do not send further correspondence to try and confirm any personal information.

I expect confirmation in writing that you have received this notice and that you will adhere to it.

Other than confirming my notice to the removal of your implied rights of access, I no longer wish to receive any

communication from BBC, TV LICENSING, CAPITA BUSINESS SERVICES LTD or any other third party company

working on their behalf, further communication by any method will be considered harassment.

Yours sincerely

The legal Occupier

Defence against Search Warrants

If you were ever unlucky enough to be issued a search warrant your best defence would be to open the window not

the door and speak to them from there.

Remind the police that they are only there to prevent the breach of peace and ask them if they are under oath, inform

them that you are contacting a friend/family member/lawyer whoever you want to be present as a witness and that

once the witness arrives you will let them in this is your right and they cannot enter your home until the witness

is present, While youre waiting on your witness use the time to disconnect and hide any receiving devices in your

home and make sure your TV is not tuned in, then turn it off.

Once your witness is present make sure they record the whole event, it would be best if you also recorded from the

beginning in order to protect yourself.

Now that your witness is present, using your window ask to see the warrant and tell them that they will only enter once

the warrant is verified, it is important that you validate the warrant and make sure you show the warrant on camera, if

the warrant is not valid sometimes they may attempt to use an application for a warrant instead of an actual

warrant then you can simply dismiss them from the door, but make sure you have a copy of the warrant, that way

they cant falsely accuse of obstructing a non-existing search warrant.

If the warrant is valid then proceed to letting them in, the warrant only forces your consent to letting them in, nothing

more. Once you let them in, any questions they have for you simply state no comment. Ignore their cautions or

anything else they say and inform them that they are only there to inspect the TV. If they are not going to inspect the

TV then you want them to leave.

Dont allow them to wonder the house, again they are only there to inspect the TV, they have no right to go wondering

around your home. Make sure you record all their actions. Simply state that if they are done inspecting your TV they

have to leave and make sure you enforce this. The police are only there to make sure there isnt a breach of peace, so

if they have finished with the TV tell them to leave and if they refuse tell the officers that you have let them in, they

have inspected the TV and now you want them to leave and that by them refusing it is now trespassing and that you

want the officer to now escort them of your home. Also, make sure you get the goons I.D on camera, you could

possibly do this before letting them in as you will need to verify that they are from TVL.

Cheapest way out of a fine!

If you have been served a summons you can contact TV Licensing and make an offer of Full Licence fee plus

25.00 for Admin Costs, this is usually enough for them to withdraw the case and the offer is also applicable on the

day of the court hearing, which a representative from TV licensing is usually available to accept.

You must hold the licence for 60 days from the issue of the summons before cancelling it. Once cancelled following

one of the many guides available you will receive a refund for the three full quarters. This means you are paying

them for 1 quarter plus the admin fee, which is usually the cheapest way out of it.

Update: You must now wait 6 months before cancelling your licence. This is because the goons are now keeping the

178 form you signed just in case you decided to cancel early. This is how many people are now ending back up in

court receiving fines, so to prevent this you must now wait 6 months. After 6 months the 178 form and any other

evidence will be void. You can still claim for a refund after the 6 months... the only difference this time is a 50% refund,

but its still cheaper than the alternative.

Estimation

Licence Fee: 145.50

Admin Fee: 25.00

Sub-Total: 170.50

Refund: 72.75

Total Paid: 97.75

TV Licensing likes to receive money but sometimes puts up a fight when it comes to refunding. To find out more about

refunds go to tvlicensing.co.uk Click Check if you need a TV Licence, Then Click TV Licence is not needed, Next

Click, Refund form advice (for more info) or click Cancellations and refunds which can also be found on the Refund

form advice page.