Except that I have, and it's paid in full. A brief background.

The Licencing people - is it still the home office ?

- have been supplying a receipted licence for eight years to this property following a one off payment.

This is the first year it has been done totally online to save paper and a stamp.

I have bank statement proof that I paid on the day and that it has not been refunded at any time since.

The issue which has led to a summons is, from what I can gather, a change to the house number

as a result of a postal address change, that Royal Mail have confirmed was modified by the TV Licencing office themselves in 2011.

I have confirmation of this in a letter from the local sorting office.

I had one of their 'inspectors' come round and since I have a licence I saw no reason not to let him in last month,

and show him the Royal Mail correspondence.

The problem is, the contents within their statement supplied in the court summons is completely different

to what happened on the day,

he states that I never showed him the letter and asked him to leave after an argument ensued.

Since I can prove a licence is valid, why should they ask me to appear in court, wasting a day of my time for no gain ?

Secondly, I have to send something back to the court, pleading guilty or not guilty, of course I'm going for the latter.

Am I entitled to claim for the lost time and costs of scanning and printing

all the valid documentation at the local stationers when I turn up ?

Thirdly, as a direct result of the postal alteration,

I have lost some mail, other mail has gone to another address a few miles away,

and I have lost two appeals, one for a parking ticket and another for a self assessment penalty,

through the timing of correspondence back and forth exceeding that required by HMRC.

Can I also claim for these penalties back from TV Licencing ?

Fourthly, how does one state in court correspondence that the TV licencing people

and their 'inspectors' (Capita ?) are cretinous without actually using such a word,

by their fabrication of a witness statement and the detail within the database they have at their disposal,

simply to go for proceedings via the court ?

Let them take you to court, you can show proof and demand full costs for wasting yours and the courts time.

Let them take you to court, you can show proof and demand full costs for wasting yours and the courts time.

Thanks for the quick answer.

I am under the suspicion though this may be like the other database abuser

- DVLA - where once you are at court with all paperwork in order,

they will simply drop the case, leaving me out of pocket for the time off work and other costs.

I've also just realised whilst I was the one that let them in (is it Capita ? and are they on a commission based wage ?)

and the licence is in my name,

the summons is for my fiance whose name appears on the mortgage - and I suppose the database,

but he is out of the country until the second week of December, save two flying weekend visits before then.

Can I turn up to court with the documentation to answer for him as the bank statement

proving full payment is in my name and I signed the inspectors documents?

If they dropped the case i would still think about issuing a claim for wasted time and costs you incurred, as well as stress etc. In future, never answer the door to any of the tv muppets. SImply say "not today thanks" and shut the door. Until you allow them access to your home or they hear teh tv, they have no more rights than a regular DCA doorstep collector. i.e NONE.

Hi,

do you have the paper TV licence?

[ if they still issue them],

if you have bank statements to prove the payment & the licence then plead not guilty & see them in court.

We have "members" on here who advocate letting the TVL/Capita " inspectors " into your property ,

this is what happens even when you are legal & paying the TV tax.

It can not be repeated enough,

these goons lie, cheat & falsify evidence to get their £20 commission.

They are not to be trusted or engaged with.

Never speak, sign paperwork or give them any information .

Tell them to leave & shut the door on them.

I hope you hang them out to dry for this.......

... good luck.

Tell them to leave & shut the door on them.

Or just shut the door on them.

What's a tv license anyway. Oohh my belly aches with laughter..

Yes, you can claim your costs for researching your defence, paperwork copies of bank statements etc at £18 per hour LiP costs.

Put this down in your form as a counterclaim and that way they will struggle to back out of the action

and you will get your costs.

The people banging on your door get paid a bonus for taking you to court so I wonder,

if they lose do they get their pay stopped by the same amount?

I hope that you havent left it too late to hit them back as the court wont accept a counterclaim on the day,

you will just get travel and lost earnings.

Let them take you to court, you can show proof and demand full costs for wasting yours and the courts time.

I forgot to ask, can one apply for costs in a Magistrates court ? I thought only County courts could deliberate on such matters, and one reason why Capita use them.

If the claim is vexatious and with the evidence you have it cannot be a simple error, then you can claim costs against them.

you do ofcourse have the attachment from the registered email address

that's the tv licence by email from tvlc

dx

To stand a better chance of costs it may look better if you write to tv licencing pointing out their mistake.

Im unware of how costs work in criminal cases, are magistrates courts similar to small track in civil courts and can one claim the lip rate of £18 ph. ?