T V License

[lunarloopy]

While touring caravans are often covered by the owners home TV licence, those planning to watch live television programmes in their caravan, static caravan, motorhome, mobile home or moveable chalet will need to take care. The owners home TV licence is only valid for use in these types of holiday accommodation when the home TV will never be used at the same time as that in the caravan. For example, if a family member is staying at home and will use the TV, a separate licence will be required for use in the holiday home. If the home TV will not be used during the holiday, a declaration form must be filled in and returned to TV Licensing.

 

Just received this on a caravan emag! Oh sugar!

[purplemadboy]

There is no way of proving one way or another if both tv's are being watched at the same time .

[Peter1474]

Guess it is how you read it.

 

http://www. tvlicensing. co. uk/faqs/FAQ30

 

For me I am definitely not bothering about it. never heard of anyone being done for it. Never likely to, if your house has a licence they don't knock your door, and just how many times have you seen a detector van on a site?

 

Scaremongering.

[WispMan]

Guess it is how you read it.

 

http://www. tvlicensing. co. uk/faqs/FAQ30

 

For me I am definitely not bothering about it. never heard of anyone being done for it. Never likely to, if your house has a licence they don't knock your door, and just how many times have you seen a detector van on a site?

 

Scaremongering.

 

I agree. There are better things to worry about.

[CommanderDave]

As said it would be impossible prove that live broadcasting were being watched at home and in the caravan at the same time to prosecute .

 

Even now it is only extortion by scare tactics to get people to pay . You dont have to have a licence if you have a TV only if you watch live broadcasts .

 

 

http://www. moneysavingexpert. com/utilities/tv-licence

 

section 21.

 

 

Dave

[Durbanite]

Guess it is how you read it.

 

http://www. tvlicensing. co. uk/faqs/FAQ30

 

For me I am definitely not bothering about it. never heard of anyone being done for it. Never likely to, if your house has a licence they don't knock your door, and just how many times have you seen a detector van on a site?

 

Scaremongering.

Is there such a thing as a detector van? Somehow I doubt it even in this modern day and age with all the technology. Easier to do a lookup to see who has not renewed or which addresses don't have a TV licence.

[Peter1474]

Dave, read No 3 on your link, you do need the licence to record the prog that you want to watch later.

 

But agree another form of extortion to get people to pay up.

Is there such a thing as a detector van? Somehow I doubt it even in this modern day and age with all the technology. Easier to do a lookup to see who has not renewed or which addresses don't have a TV licence.

Never ever thought there was one, just a van with a man with a book with a few big coathangers on top of the van.

[beejay]

Is there such a thing as a detector van? Somehow I doubt it even in this modern day and age with all the technology. Easier to do a lookup to see who has not renewed or which addresses don't have a TV licence.

 

They use the TV licences register. Where there is no TV licence registered they write and knock ad infiniteum.

 

My grandson moved into a flat in a converted office block immediately after the work finished. Within a week every flat had received a TV licence demand. How did they know the work had finished and people were moving in?

[Peter1474]

 

They use the TV licences register. Where there is no TV licence registered they write and knock ad infiniteum.

 

My grandson moved into a flat in a converted office block immediately after the work finished. Within a week every flat had received a TV licence demand. How did they know the work had finished and people were moving in?

Did he buy a TV? By law the sellers (ie PC World and the like) have to inform the Govt. Best thing is to get someone with a TV already to buy your new TV.

[TonyJover]

Is there such a thing as a detector van?.

Nope, and there never was.

[KNARF]

The vans existed but were only a scare tactic to frighten people into buying a licence.

knarf

[Vin Blanc]

Nope, and there never was.

 

Oh yes there was! All part of the Post Office Telephones radio investigation service.

 

As a "Youth in Training" back in the 1950's I spent a month with this department.

 

The GPO had lists of all houses holding a current TV licence. Any house without a licence would be asked if they owned a TV set.

 

If the answer was no, a detector van would quietly park in the street one night to confirm if a TV set was being used.

 

The operator inside the van could pick up a signal from any TV set that was switched on and locate in exactly which room of a house it was being used.

 

Sometimes it was sufficient to simply park the detector van in the road then watch the back garden to see someone hastily trying to hide their TV in the garden shed!

 

Offenders were served with an official warning and a time limit. If they didn't comply then prosecution would soon follow.

 

Oh happy days!

 

Vin Blanc

Edited August 3, 2014 by Vin Blanc

[KNARF]

http://www. dailymail. co. uk/news/article-2445153/Are-TV-detector-vans-just-cunning-trick-For-decades-claimed-trap-licence-cheats-In-fact-theyve-led-single-prosecution. html

knarf

[Durbanite]

 

Oh yes there was! All part of the Post Office Telephones radio investigation service.

 

As a "Youth in Training" back in the 1950's I spent a month with this department.

 

The GPO had lists of all houses holding a current TV licence. Any house without a licence would be asked if they owned a TV set.

 

If the answer was no, a detector van would quietly park in the street one night to confirm if a TV set was being used.

 

The operator inside the van could pick up a signal from any TV set that was switched on and locate in exactly which room of a house it was being used.

 

Sometimes it was sufficient to simply park the detector van in the road then watch the back garden to see someone hastily trying to hide their TV in the garden shed!

 

Offenders were served with an official warning and a time limit. If they didn't comply then prosecution would soon follow.

 

Oh happy days!

 

Vin Blanc

 

TVs have never transmitted any sort of signal and even if they did it would be analogue and easily blocked by walls. If it was a block of flats, how could they tell which flat was transmitting the so called signal? The closest thing to a signal was the frequency of the Line Output Transformer, however that was shielded anyway plus no way would it transmit through a wall. If these so called detector vans had equipment to analyse signals, the equipment would have needed an additional trailer never mind the the heat generated by the equipment.

Lastly how come they traced people whose TV was switched off, not connected into an aerial and harassed them? You do not need a TV licence if the TV is not capable of receiving a broadcast signal. in other words how could they distinguish between a computer monitor and a TV? Seems like they also had you fooled.

BTW the vans with the aerial stuff on top were used for detecting interference problems and quality of signal in dodgy areas.

Edited August 3, 2014 by DeltaTIowner

[Vin Blanc]

 

TVs have never transmitted any sort of signal and even if they did it would be analogue and easily blocked by walls. If it was a block of flats, how could they tell which flat was transmitting the so called signal? The closest thing to a signal was the frequency of the Line Output Transformer, however that was shielded anyway plus no way would it transmit through a wall. If these so called detector vans had equipment to analyse signals, the equipment would have needed an additional trailer never mind the the heat generated by the equipment.

Lastly how come they traced people whose TV was switched off, not connected into an aerial and harassed them? You do not need a TV licence if the TV is not capable of receiving a broadcast signal. in other words how could they distinguish between a computer monitor and a TV? Seems like they also had you fooled.

BTW the vans with the aerial stuff on top were used for detecting interference problems and quality of signal in dodgy areas.

In my view, that newspaper article is for the most part rubbish!

 

What happens these days I have no way of knowing but in the early days that I worked for the GPO, properly equipped detector vans were in constant use, nothing from the “space age”, as I remember, just a simple small cathode ray tube and one (or two) directional aerials mounted on the roof of the van which could be swivelled manually by the operator.

 

The vans used were in fact labelled "Radio Investigation".

 

I understand that an assistant checked the list of properties listed as not holding a licence.

 

To the best of my knowledge, it was a legal offence to operate a radio or TV receiver without a licence (as was keeping a dog!). N. B. I don't think we had computers in those days!

 

By targeting a given area the GPO was tasked with providing proof of the offences and the addresses of all the offenders in that area however, I don’t know just who brought about the actual prosecutions - if any.

 

The vehicle shown in the photo looks too modern for my day and the aerials used were nowhere as elaborate as those depicted.

 

The facts quoted in the article may have been accurate in 2013 when it was written but as I remember, a complete load of b. .....s back in the 50’s.

 

A very good example of why I no longer waste my money on newspapers!

 

Vin Blanc

Edited August 3, 2014 by Vin Blanc

[beejay]

Did he buy a TV? By law the sellers (ie PC World and the like) have to inform the Govt. Best thing is to get someone with a TV already to buy your new TV.

 

Did you miss the point?

 

Any premises that do not have a TV licence on record will get repeated calls from TVL so it doesn't make any difference whether you buy a TV legitimately or not.

 

Yes, he had a TV and a licence to transfer from his previous residence.

[TonyJover]

 

The operator inside the van could pick up a signal from any TV set that was switched on and locate in exactly which room of a house it was being used.

Bovine excrement.

 

Detector vans do not and never could detect the operation of a TV. The propaganda was very good, I agree, as your post testifies.

 

Tony

[TonyJover]

 

Just seen DT's post - it is bang on. The LOT in CRT TVs was the only thing that could be 'detected' in theory but in practice it was not possible. Huge propaganda victory for the government of the time that still persists today.

[Vin Blanc]

Well, do I feel an idiot?

 

I spent a month working with the GPO radio investigations guy, he had me in stitches with his stories of

people legging it up to the garden shed clutching their precious little 9 inch black and white telly.

 

At the tender age of 17, I enjoyed learning about the various causes of radio and TV interference especially at one point, a solitary 60w light bulb that put a horizontal white line across the centre of nearly every TV within 100 yards, sorry, metres.

 

How disappointed I was when my mentor refused point blank to allow me to accompany him on an evening sweep in the detector van checking out licence dodgers.

 

 

He said it would involve overtime and as a “Youth in Training” (apprentice) I was not permitted to book overtime. – GPO (or union) rules of course!

 

I later asked if he would show me the detector equipment in action but he politely refused (quoting the Official secrets act) “until I was properly qualified”.

 

I must admit that until this thread opened I had never, in all these years, ever thought to question what I had always accepted as a logical solution to the TV licence dodging problem.

 

My apologies and grateful thanks to all those who I contradicted and who then corrected me so politely, perhaps I might even go out and buy “The Mail” tomorrow – well perhaps not!

 

Vin Blanc

Edited August 3, 2014 by Vin Blanc

[Swizz]

I thought that it was only possible to detect inadvertent signals from a CRT based TV, or valve driven amplifiers. So ceased to be possible with digital LCD screens, and transistors.

 

It has IMHO always been a bit of useless beurocracy.

 

France does it more effectively by adding it to your local taxation.

To avoid it you have to pay unless you declare that you have no TV, radio or recording device, even if it lies in your loft & is broken.

Also the local gendarmes would be incredulous & attend for a rummage.

 

David

Edited August 3, 2014 by Swizz

[TonyJover]

 

At the tender age of 17, I enjoyed learning about the various causes of radio and TV interference especially at one point, a solitary 60w light bulb that put a horizontal white line across the centre of nearly every TV within 100 yards, sorry, metres.

My mum had a Bakelite hair dryer that would completely wipe out any TV within about the same radius. I wonder if the neighbours ever worked out why their tellys stopped working for 20 minutes every Saturday evening. ..

 

Tony

[ad210358]

Did he buy a TV? By law the sellers (ie PC World and the like) have to inform the Govt. Best thing is to get someone with a TV already to buy your new TV.

Result, just bought a new Avtex from the local dealer, was not asked anything, nothing filled in, paid in untraceable bits of paper.

But yes, the last two we've bought from Comet before the demise details were requested.

[Easy T]

 

They use the TV licences register. Where there is no TV licence registered they write and knock ad infiniteum.

 

 

When I was living on my own the only time I might watch any TV was between start of November and end of February. So I used to set up a standing order at start of November and cancel at end of Feb.

The letters that I used to receive had a hint of menace in them. Eventually I wrote to the licence authority and said that I considered their letters to amount to harassment and if they didn't cease I would take legal advice. Never received any more.

[Alexbee]

Many many years ago when I bought my first house, I was young, single, and never in, and had no TV. I dont know how many letters I received or how many doorstep visits I had, asking why I had no TV licence, but it was a lot. When my Mum died her house lay empty for about 9 months before we flogged it and after her licence expired, they bombarded the place with weekly letters despite my sister writing and telling them the situation.

I guess if they didnt do this a lot more people would bother. I personally think the licence is worth it for BBC TV and all the BBC radio channels.

[BFM]

The tv detector van stories are legendary, and of the same calibre of disinformation as the wartime stories of RAF pilots being fed carrots to improve their night vision (it was of course radar that they used, not carrots). There is a signal emitted from the IF stage of old CRT (tube) TVs but it isn't strong and can't be picked up from far away. The letters are all targeted at houses or flats without a licence. The most indignant letter of complaint after a visit I heard of was from a blind man who couldn't even see the TV, but because (unwittingly) he had a colour tv got charged the colour licence fee!

Edited August 3, 2014 by BFM