The BBC is a truly horrible organisation. It is perhaps a true sign of the times that a cynical organisation that deliberately and systematically tries to intimidate and frighten people who don’t consume its services is still regarded as some sort of “national treasure”.
I’m referring of course to its scheme of sending frightening letters and leaflet contraptions to people who don’t appear on their database as paying for a TV License.
The scheme is administered by outsourcing company Capita but the BBC is responsible.
The campaign is without morals and is utterly cynical. Undoubtedly the receipt of letters which are obviously designed to scare the life out of people must, at the margins, help tip some people over the edge.
I wrote about this nasty and aggressive operation some time ago.
Now it seems the BBC is going to apply these same scare tactics to elderly people over 75. Anyone who loves their elderly Mum or Dad or Granny or Grandpa should be very worried.
An unnamed (no surprises there – why is the Telegraph allowing this person to hide behind a cloak of anonymity?) BBC spokesman is quoted by the Telegraph:
When TV Licensing is informed a property does not need a licence, our records are immediately updated to reflect this and no further letters are sent for approximately two years. TV Licensing may visit the address to verify the situation. TV Licensing does its best not to trouble genuine non-viewers. TVL never presumes guilt, but people do sometimes say they do not need a licence when they do. TVL has a duty to enforce the law on behalf of those who pay.
It is 100% not true that “TV Licensing”, actually the BBC – even the organisation is a fake cover -, “never assumes guilt”. The very opposite is true. The whole system is built on the simple method of taking the database of the electoral register (probably augmented from other sources) and subtracting from that everyone who pays for a TV license. The subset that remains are then endlessly bombarded with a series of threatening letters the wording of which is designed to provoke fear. Typical phrases are “An official investigation has been opened into you. You can expect a visit soon from an officer.” or “Concerning your imminent appearance in court”. In red ink. People may even get visits from their “officers” who will try to gain entry to your home. The actual reality – not widely published by the BBC – is a) that no one has any legal duty whatsoever to inform the BBC every two years that they don’t watch TV and b) there is zero provision in law to permit the “officers” to gain entry to your home. The whole campaign of terror is based on a legal fiction.
The people behind this campaign which means senior figures at the BBC and at their contracting company Capita and also those who collude in it, which means all BBC journalists, are engaged in doing something which is fundamentally evil.
And now they are going to bring this evil to your Granny and Grandpa. That this is accepted and the BBC is still seen as a “national treasure” is a sign of the debased nature of the times.
The New Observer 