Thousands of Oxfordshire TV licence evaders caught

10:50am Thursday 21st February 2013 in News

OXON: More than 1,400 county residents were caught without a TV licence in 2012, new figures show, including about 610 in Oxford and 240 in Banbury.

TV Licensing spokesman Victoria Sykes said national evasion rates were at “historically low levels”.

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Comments(21)

DuncanB says...
11:48am Thu 21 Feb 13

When they say they caught 1400 people without a TV license, how many of those people didn't have a license because they didn't have a TV?

Or in other words is this the number of people they sent nasty letters, or the number of people that were actually fined for using a TV without a license?

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zimmer, Wolvecote. says...
12:05pm Thu 21 Feb 13

Although now with subscription TV it is impossible not to be on their list, you do not have to let the licence people in your house (unless they have a warrant, which they will not on the first visit). Just go out and buy one when they have gone, and on their next visit you will have one to show them. I would not usually advocate breaking the law, but they waste money on £million+ contracts for presenters who's jobs could be equally well done for a fraction of the cost. It is the programme makers that deserve the money

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amber leaf says...
12:17pm Thu 21 Feb 13

maybe theses people dont want anything to do with the bbcs pedophile ring and government controlled media i dont pay it and i never intend to ether .......

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rayroad says...
1:11pm Thu 21 Feb 13

1,400, isn't exactly thousands, it is in fact a thousand and a half...and given the population of Oxfordshire (635,000 according to the OCC website) this represents 0.22% of the population...even as a percentage of households (258,900) this is only 0.54%...bit of a low news week obviously.......

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jennie65 says...
1:23pm Thu 21 Feb 13

Its a rip off anyway, if i dont pay for sky they stop pumping it into my house, i dont want the bbc and its crappy channels stop pumping it in

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bart-on simpson says...
1:59pm Thu 21 Feb 13

remind me how much the fine is?

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bart-on simpson says...
1:59pm Thu 21 Feb 13

of course, you need a licence to watch online - no mention of that.

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Alfie Nokes says...
2:01pm Thu 21 Feb 13

you are only required to license yourself if you watch or record live television transmissions as they are being broadcast.

the very few things the bbc puts out that are not laced with one putrid agenda or another are virtually always available on the iPlayer.

others are claiming that "paying bbc license is treason", though I am not a lawyer and doubt that any governmental policy enforcement bodies focusing on the letter of the legislation would abide by the higher principles of the law, even if their claims were true.

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zimmer, Wolvecote. says...
2:21pm Thu 21 Feb 13

That is why alfie, your Tivo box will not allow you to record delayed or catch up tv shows as a way around the law. But what next, are they going to be on the 06.59 to Paddington nicking all those watching BBC News on their Iphones?

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livid99 says...
2:28pm Thu 21 Feb 13

I notice the warning adverts they used to show have gone, the ones which used to threaten you with something like..."We know where you live, and if you don't pay up we will come and getcha...you evil ******* ".
I suppose we all have to pay for sh*te like Eastenders, whether we watch it or not.

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Feelingsmatter says...
3:39pm Thu 21 Feb 13

amber leaf wrote:
maybe theses people dont want anything to do with the bbcs pedophile ring and government controlled media i dont pay it and i never intend to ether .......
If you have a TV and you don't pay your license, your avoidance means people like me have to pay even more for carp like "Saints & Scroungers".

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amber leaf says...
4:36pm Thu 21 Feb 13

yes i do have a tv thanks feelingsmatter but i dont use it for live tv and defiantly not to watch all the rubbish the bbc comes out with !!! and im not going to pay for a service i don't receive but if u are happy in supporting pedophiles and corruption thats up to u ? but some people are fed up to the back teeth of this government propaganda rubbish and sounds to me that u are watching far to much of it because how do u come to the conclusion that people like u pay for people like me ?

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Milkbutnosugarplease says...
6:37pm Thu 21 Feb 13

Oddly enough, a polite TV Licensing Officer called at my house yesterday. I don't have a TV and told him that I am innocent until proven guilty, so I don't need to let him enter my house, fill in forms or explain my position to anyone. I'm reading newspaper websites for free, later I may watch something on Youtube for free - why would I pay £140 or whatever to pay off that twit who resigned from the BBC after 3 weeks and took half a million pounds with him? I'd rather listen to the radio for nothing!

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Geoff Roberts says...
8:20am Fri 22 Feb 13

I have no TV license. no TV either though. There's never anything live online worth watching.

It's all easy to get around: Simply don't admit to having a TV. You could also point out that you were duped into funding Jimmy Savile for years.

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Man on the Green says...
10:04am Fri 22 Feb 13

I wonder how much the TV licensing 'industry' costs us as taxpayers, and whether it wouldn't be better to decriminalise licensing, and include the licence fee in housing benefits payments. The vast majority of non-payers are people on benefits, almost all single mothers, and the amount they can be fined is a drop in the ocean of enormous costs incurred by the vast TV Licensing bureaucracy (which ably uses our money to promote its own continued existence). Just a thought...

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Feelingsmatter says...
1:02pm Fri 22 Feb 13

amber leaf wrote:
yes i do have a tv thanks feelingsmatter but i dont use it for live tv and defiantly not to watch all the rubbish the bbc comes out with !!! and im not going to pay for a service i don't receive but if u are happy in supporting pedophiles and corruption thats up to u ? but some people are fed up to the back teeth of this government propaganda rubbish and sounds to me that u are watching far to much of it because how do u come to the conclusion that people like u pay for people like me ?
Oh please calm down. To accuse me of supporting paedophiles is vile. Your comment stated that you had a TV, and had no intention of paying the license fee, NOT that you didn't watch live TV on it, so perhaps you should show a little more clarity in your comments before you start throwing the insults around.

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Slimster says...
4:17pm Fri 22 Feb 13

The 'detection' of 'licence evaders' is outsourced to Capita. They send horrid little men around who try crafty things to catch you out. Just say nothing and close the door (assuming they can't see a TV from the front of the house). Their scaremongering letters are pretty awful too. If you wait long enough the letters go through a cycle and you get the same letter again.

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Feelingsmatter says...
6:33pm Fri 22 Feb 13

Slimster wrote:
The 'detection' of 'licence evaders' is outsourced to Capita. They send horrid little men around who try crafty things to catch you out. Just say nothing and close the door (assuming they can't see a TV from the front of the house). Their scaremongering letters are pretty awful too. If you wait long enough the letters go through a cycle and you get the same letter again.
So basically, you're advocating theft.

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Milkbutnosugarplease says...
12:48am Sat 23 Feb 13

Well, I get a letter from TV Licensing every month. They helpfully put their name on the back so I can file it directly into my blue wheely bin. And yes, Capita are contractors paid by the BBC to pursue licence evaders. One officer, a woman, was nasty in the past but the others have been very gentle in their approach. They have no powers to enter or search a house unless you invite them in.

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Pikey-Biker says...
12:39pm Sun 24 Feb 13

Slimster wrote:
The 'detection' of 'licence evaders' is outsourced to Capita. They send horrid little men around who try crafty things to catch you out. Just say nothing and close the door (assuming they can't see a TV from the front of the house). Their scaremongering letters are pretty awful too. If you wait long enough the letters go through a cycle and you get the same letter again.
Well one day you will be caught, I think it would be a lot easier to pay up; it only works out at £3 a week

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alu355 says...
12:03pm Tue 26 Feb 13

Yes 1400 isn't 'thousands', thousands would be more than 2000.

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