Some months back I opened the door to the Tv Licensing people, and made agreement to pay licence in small amounts, Due to illness and having to move on to benefits I could not afford to keep making the payments. Today i received a warrant for arrest for non payment of the debt, I am really worried that I may be arrested, but all the same,at the back of my mind something tells me that the warrant is not what it seems to be, It is printed on card sealed on 3 edges. the front says its from HM courts and tribunals services,but the inside looks more like a tv licence warning, but says "Details can be circulated to police" amongst other things like don't delay contact us now. It has my name account number and contact details written in ink. I rang the number, while hiding my own, and asked who I was speaking too, at first all the man would say was his name, but after some persistence he said he was from the magistrates court. He did not seem genuine. So I'm not sure if it is a real warrant or not .How can I tell if it is genuine ?

Hi, TV Licencing have written to me saying that since 04/01/2005 they have been taking direct debits from a third party for my TV licence (this is just over 7 years ago.) They've admitted it is their error and the third party bank have only just informed them. They've refunded the third party bank account and are now demanding nearly one and a half grand, telling me I have 28 days to pay or they will recover the amount under the Communications Act 2003 Section 364 (5). We don't own a TV. I've always just chucked letters from TV licencing in the bin before but opened this in a hurry with a bunch of other mail without checking who it was from. What legal recourse do I have? I don't want to risk my credit rating being compromised.

Hi, My partner recently received a legal document addressed to a similar name to hers at her parents address. The first name was wrong but began with the correct letter, the surname was correct. The letter suggested that the case had already been to court and that she had 7 days to pay approx £350 or the bailiffs would be round. After some investigation and phoning the companies on the summons, we discovered it was in relation to a TV Licence offence, committed in March 2014 at a flat where my partner had lived up until 2011. Also, as my partner had left on good terms with the landlord of the property, we got in touch with her. It appears that while the tenant of the flat where the offence occurred was on holiday, the landlord had collected the post. She saw a letter that 'looked official' and had a similar name to my partners on it, so forwarded it to the forwarding address my partner left when she moved out of the property (her parents address). If she hadn't done that, we wouldn't have even heard about the case at this late stage. Concerned that bailiffs would turn up at her parents address, my partner began trying to sort the issue out, even though the first name was different to hers, and ultimately arranged an appointment at the local Magistrates Court to issue a Statement of Declaration, stating that she had not lived at the property since 2011 and this was nothing to do with her. The landlord had provided us with the names of the occupants of the property since my partner moved out, the current tenant and the tenant at the property at the date of the offence (the same person for all). My partner (8.5 months pregnant at the time) attended the appointment at the Magistrates Court where they issued the Statement of Declaration and said they would send to the TV Licensing company. So, case closed we thought. Several weeks go by and an envelope comes through the door with the TV Licensing logo on it and addressed to the first initial and surname of my partner at our current property. Inside was a summons to Magistrates Court, again in the wrong name (Natalie not Nicola), for November 7th, but this time sent directly to our current address. The top of the summons had the words 'Reissued after Statement of Declaration' handwritten in biro. This envelope contained a copy of an interview conducted on the doorstep of the property when the offence occurred. The occupant gave my partners first initial and surname but no other info (no D.O.B, no NI number etc) other than to confirm that she had a TV and no licence. She signed the interview record and printed the name that has since appeared on the legal documents. We assume she has picked up the name from junk mail to the property after my partner had left, but could only guess at the first name. having spoken to the landlord, we know who was living at the property at the time of the interview (she still lives there). We have forwarded to the TV Licensing company proof that my partner moved out of the property in 2011 (and got a refund for overpayment on her TV licence at the time), proof of her residence at our current address for the past two years (more than covering the date of the offence) and details of who was living at the property at the time of the offence. Yet the emails have not been acknowledged. The 'TV Licence evasion' department phone number is constantly engaged. We phoned the main TV Licence phone line and spoke to someone who couldn't help due to being in the wrong department but requested we forward all of the proof detailed above to an email address. The email went unanswered. The follow up email went unanswered. Today, we've sent a further email and phoned the 'front desk' again and are waiting for a callback... The longer it goes on with no response, the closer the court date gets. It's causing unnecessary stress and doesn't seem to me to be particularly reasonable behaviour. Really sorry for such a long post, but we're posting this in the hope of some advice as to what we can do next if we don't hear back from the TV Licence company. We feel like we've more than co-operated and tried to help in a case that has nothing to do with us yet we seem to have just made it worse for ourselves. After receiving the initial demand to my partners parents address and explained it in court, they've now just picked up our current address and reissued a summons. We've given the exact name of the tenant who committed the offence and they still live at the property. We couldn't have made it any easier for them to pursue the correct person, but we're the one's getting all the grief. We now have a 3 week old baby and could really do without the stress. Thanks for reading! Any advice gratefully received.

Back in December I had a knock on my door from TV Licensing - after reading these threads I realise now I should have told him to go away but quite honestly I don't really care about the tv license and have no problem paying it except I forgot to respond to the demands. Anyway I set up payments there and then, singed his paperwork after we had been talking about fish for half an hour and he went on his way saying no action would be taken. True enough I received a letter some weeks alter saying thank you for payment no further action will be taken following the field officers visit. yesterday I got a court summons for not having a license between November 2013 and December 2013! I phoned them and they said after speaking to the courts administrator that I should reply to the summons but on the day of the hearing they will apply for an order that stays the prosecution until the next hearing date y which time if I have maintained payments they will withdraw the prosecution. I asked for that in writing but was refused. So what the hell should I do - I assume that the license payments are worked out to cover the period I didn't have a licence so surely I had license, albeit retrospective - does this matter/count/make any difference? Secondly, does the fact that they wrote saying no further action have any bearing - I threw the letter out so have no proof of it! And if it goes to court and they do request a stay or adjournment or whatever am I going to get stuck with costs?

Today I have received a Court Summons from the TV Licensing people for not having a TV Licence for a whole week The TVL Guy came to my house on Sunday 26th October & clearly could see the TV switched on. in the front room. The TV had only just been replaced by the warranty co 3 days previously, after a 6 week wait for them to see if they could repair the old one. He tried to caution me on the doorstep to which I did not agree with, as he is not an officer of the law & I stated that I would not sign his paperwork. I told him today was the first day of using the TV & he could see I was still setting it up I did however pay them for a Years TV Licence with my debit card & he said that would be the end of the matter. I have phoned TVL today to reason with them, as they should allow lapses in the licence when the equipment is not being used & to state on the summons that no TV licence is in between 19th to 26th October is ridiculous & a prosecution is not in the public interest. They carried on saying I had committed a criminal offence & will be prosecuted for it. Also the actual licence stated that the expiry date is 30th Sept 2012, so in fact they've backdated it & I have paid for the period shown Does anyone have any advice & what needs to be said in court?