BBC Tax for all

They once had at least one working detector van. It's in a museum somewhere now. But the suspicion is that they also had a number of others painted up with nothing inside. No figures have ever been published showing the number of prosecutions as a result of detector van evidence, and there have been no known cases.

Today, they state that their detector vans are stealthy, so don't have any writing on them. The idea being that any plain van, or possibly some with business names on them, could all be detector vans. Everyone not paying them should fear every van that drives past.

This sort of nonsense is just ridiculous in any sane democracy.
 
I did it once but since I am under no obligation to, I don’t.

It’s harassment fairly clearly but they would argue legitimate interest. It would take someone to bring a claim to properly test it.
No-one has tested it afaik...

But if you have a problem with their approach you can always send them an appropriate Withdraw of Right of Access notification...

Even though it doesn't include their letters per se, they usually give up sending them...

That is coming from someone who thinks the licence fee is good value for money (y)

The same approach works for the census lot. And even if they do turn up unexpectedly you simply say 'I have no information to give you' :)
 
They once had at least one working detector van
Perhaps they use chem-trails now (you'd have to ask aveatry) and that the houses that are watching BBC without a licence glow when the chemical hits?

Mind you, they'd be few and far between considering that over 22 million of them were issued last count. :cool:
 
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I worked alongside an old school TV engineer and he said the vans picked up the line base oscillation back in the day
Yes. It was from the Line scanning coils, 15625Hz, back in the 50's, it worked as far as the street. Now they use your iPlayer login.
Theoretically , modern displays do emit something called Van Eck phreaking, but that's more sci-fi than practical.
They might also look through your window...
 
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No-one has tested it afaik...

But if you have a problem with their approach you can always send them an appropriate Withdraw of Right of Access notification...

Even though it doesn't include their letters per se, they usually give up sending them...

That is coming from someone who thinks the licence fee is good value for money (y)
You might find this interesting https://www.bbctvlicence.com/Withholding implied right of access.htm
The same approach works for the census lot. And even if they do turn up unexpectedly you simply say 'I have no information to give you' :)
Be careful with "freeman of the Land" advice https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/Geo5/10-11/41/section/8
This is quite different to a TV Licence sales call from Capita, which can be addressed with a simple sign.
 
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One theory spouted was that the vans analysed the flickering light through your curtains. The light/dark pattern could be matched against the TV channels that were broadcasting and would prove that you were watching live TV. This was somewhat credible, but I doubt it would be accepted as evidence.

Another was that the Local Oscillator used by the TV's tuner to demodulate the signal would leak out of your aerial, so the frequency of the channel you're currently watching would be radiating from your aerial. Sounds a bit unlikely to me, there would be a lot of interference if all TVs did this. Plus TV aerials are highly directional, they'd need to position themselves between the aerial and transmitter, which may not even be in the street outside but across the back garden or down the row of houses.

They also once showed a handheld gadget that one of their mob could carry around a block of flats and point at your door. Sounds extremely unlikely.

There have been absolutely no known court cases where detector evidence of any sort has ever been presented to the court.

It's always been a propaganda fear campaign. Pay up or the bogeyman will get you.
 
There have been absolutely no known court cases where detector evidence of any sort has ever been presented to the court.
Says it all really. It's hard to believe any legitimate organisation would come out with crap like "Detector vans to locate a TV".
 
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