Pensioners’ revolt over BBC licence fee shambles

BBC chiefs face a stand-off with tens of thousands of older people refusing to pay for a licence due to the controversial over-75s scheme.

Campaigners revealed the risk of a rebellion against the fee.

The National Pensioners Convention predicted their ranks would be swollen by pensioners under 75 who would also refuse pay the TV licence fee in a show of ‘solidarity’.

Age UK said some were ‘ determined never to pay at all’ in disgust at the ‘shoddy way’ the elderly had been treated. it raises the possibilover-60s ity of a tense stand-off between the BBC and pensioners who could face court if they do not pay up.

The row intensified as letters explaining how the BBC’s new scheme will work and how to pay started to be posted through the doors of over-75s yesterday.

Millions will lose their free licences under changes which came in on August 1. Only those on pension credit will still be eligible for the benefit, with the rest forced to stump up the £157.50-a-year charge.

Jan shortt of the National Pensioners Convention said: ‘i think you can safely say there is the potential for tens of thousands of older people to decide for themselves that they will not pay. There will be a lot of them.

‘Other initiatives and other campaigners are doing different things, one of which is to engage with the and to make it more difficult for the TV licence to be paid, showing a kind of solidarity from that age group to those over 75.’

she said the situation had the potential to become more unpredictable if the BBC kept making mistakes, adding: ‘You can see they have not got a clue, it’s chaos.

Campaign group silver Voices wants all over-60s to ‘gum up the works’ of TV Licensing in a show of support for over-75s.

This would involve these pensioners complicating and delaying payments to make the system ‘unworkable’.

Dennis Reed from silver Voices said: ‘Older people are used to taking it but i think the attitude now is “no, we’ve had enough”.’

Caroline Abrahams of Age UK said: ‘Although only a minority may be prepared to take it all the way to court, collectively they are likely to add up to a fair few.’

A BBC spokesman said: ‘We know most members of the public are law abiding, so our focus is on helping people transition to the new scheme as easily and safely as possible.’