Taken to Court Twice Without Being Told

[TVHell]

This may be a little long winded, please bear with me. I am describing what is happening between my daughter and TV Licensing.

 

She moved into shared student accommodation in 2013 in Exeter, on a road with many student houses, Victoria Street. They were doorstepped one evening, when my daughter was not present, told they don't have a license and needed to get one. A week later it was purchased.

 

Fast forward several months (I don't recall the date but am in the process of finding out and documenting all this), and she receives, at her home address, a Notice of Enforcement for £340 for Use of a Television set without a license. This is the first letter received.

 

I accompany her to a local magistrates court to perform a Statutory Declaration that she received no summons. On the clerks papers we can see that they had my daughter's student address incorrect, instead of Victoria Street it is Victoria Road. This explains why she has not received any letters to this point, and why she did not receive the summons. The clerk provides us with no papers with this information on.

 

The Stat Dec is sent off, and my daughter calls the TV License people to explain the situation, saying please can you call off the hounds. They say no, you will have to explain in court.

 

Fast forward again to December last year. Again at the home address she received a second Notice of Enforcement, for a different court case. Again she provides a statutory declaration. This time the court at which she provides the stat dec doesn't send it through correctly to the court issuing the warrant and they are insisting they cannot cancel the warrant - the fine stands.

 

She is in her final year, extremely stressed by it all, cannot afford to pay the fine, and should not as she had a license. She has been to court twice, made in the region of 40 phone calls to the court and tv licensing, and seems to have no way out. She can't fight a summons that does not get sent to her.

 

I'm trying to put together all the information to write to the Consumer Relations address to complain to TV Licensing but it seems rather a toothless approach. Anything else we can do?

[SabreSheep]

Try exploring getting the judgements set aside on the grounds that the claims were served incorrectly

[Bazooka Boo]

Good old aunty beeb!

 

Firstly I would stop talking to them over the phone, unless you can record the calls, then they will be pretty fruitless.

 

Keep everything in writing, and use ''proof of posting'' which is free from the PO counter, and obviously keep copies of all you send, and a diary of events.

As for the court failing to send the SD to the correct court, is a separate complaint all together, and you should exhaust their complaints procedure.

 

If she has a TVL then all she need do is produce it in court, case dismissed, the BBC and their draconian enforcement policies demanding every human being buy their Jurassic TV licence will be extinct in the near future.

 

Complain to the courts, the BBC couldn't care less, your local press might run a story on the farce too....??

[Bazooka Boo]

Try exploring getting the judgements set aside on the grounds that the claims were served incorrectly

 

Good thinking Batman!!

 

https://www.justice.gov.uk/courts/procedure-rules/civil/rules/part13

[TVHell]

Try exploring getting the judgements set aside on the grounds that the claims were served incorrectly

 

Thanks. I assume that is effectively what the statutory declaration did? There is a problem with the processing of the second but I think that will be resolved. It doesn't solve the problem of them taking her to court a third time, again without her knowledge.

 

 

Good old aunty beeb!

 

Firstly I would stop talking to them over the phone, unless you can record the calls, then they will be pretty fruitless.

 

Keep everything in writing, and use ''proof of posting'' which is free from the PO counter, and obviously keep copies of all you send, and a diary of events.

As for the court failing to send the SD to the correct court, is a separate complaint all together, and you should exhaust their complaints procedure.

 

If she has a TVL then all she need do is produce it in court, case dismissed, the BBC and their draconian enforcement policies demanding every human being buy their Jurassic TV licence will be extinct in the near future.

 

Complain to the courts, the BBC couldn't care less, your local press might run a story on the farce too....??

 

Thanks. Unfortunately she can't produce the TVL in court as she never knows when the court date is. How does she get them to court?

[Bazooka Boo]

Thanks. Unfortunately she can't produce the TVL in court as she never knows when the court date is. How does she get them to court?

 

Sorry, I see the issue now...

 

Deal direct with the court, do you know which court issued the summonses?

[TVHell]

Sorry, I see the issue now...

 

Deal direct with the court, do you know which court issued the summonses?

 

We know the court that has issued the enforcement notice, which I assume must be the same. We don't know any summons or court dates.

[Bazooka Boo]

Give them a ring and see if they can shed any light on the issue,

[ericsbrother]

the enforcement notice means the cases have been and gone, hence the need to apply for a set-aside. this will cost a few quid but will hopefully get a new hearing and the court takes over the sending out of the paperwork from your information, not TVL's. I'm certain that it will be straightforward once the paperwork is in the system and TVL will have to offer no evidence.