Bailiff threat to innocent licence fee payers

THE BBC Trust has ordered an investigation into the way the TV licence fee is collected after innocent viewers were threatened with bailiffs.

The BBC, which sends out 100,000 letters every working day chasing the £145.50-a-year charge, said it would set debt collectors on one victim who had already paid their licence fee in full. They were also threatened with a £1,000 fine.

The BBC Trust has now ordered the corporation to investigate the situation and work out how to stop threatening notices being sent out in error.

The BBC pays Capita, the outsourcing firm, to collect the TV licence fee, at a cost of around £70million a year. A spokesman for TV Licensing said the debt collection notice was sent by mistake due to a specific set of circumstances. ‘The complainant later set up a new licence whilst their previous licence was still valid,’ he said.

‘When they missed their cash payments, letters advised they might be referred to debt collection.

‘This would only happen in a tiny number of cases. We can confirm we will examine these letters.’

However, other viewers have since contacted the Daily Mail to say that they have also received threatening letters despite paying their licence fee in full. Sally Wainman from Ipswich, said: ‘This is not a specific set of circumstances. They are sending out blanket letters without checking their own data.’

Capita brings almost 3,000 TV licensing prosecutions a week, accounting for around a tenth of all cases in magistrates’ courts. Anyone found guilty is left with a criminal record.