RE: Official Warning

Dear Mr. Robinson,

In response to your letter entitled “Official Warning”, reference number 2843790949HM2, I would like to register my distress at your attempts to use scare tactics against myself and fellow tenants. I have not appreciated your chosen tone in previous correspondence and your latest letter has only served to enforce the threatening stance your agency appears to be taking.

Without proof of criminal activity, I feel undeserving of the threats made by yourself and the TV Licensing Agency against myself and my fellow tenants. If you would excuse my bluntness, I find the entire affair to be most uncivil, bordering on rude.

Furthermore, the threats do press on my mind causing me undue stress. This is something that, as an engineering student, I need to avoid. Any distressing distractions have a highly detrimental effect on my research and learning. I hope that you will respect the fact that I have only one opportunity to obtain my degree and as such treat it with a great deal of respect and diligence.

Since leaving home for university, both my fellow tenants and I have felt no need to own or operate a television receiver. Further more we have been extremely careful to ensure that we stay within the law ‘The Communications (Television Licensing) Regulations 2004’ regarding the acquisition and use of any A/V equipment. Considering the lengths to which we have been, I find the continued threats to be most unfair.

Last year, after several attempts, I was able to talk to a member of your call centre staff to inform the TV Licensing Agency of two items. Firstly, the previous tenants to whom previous correspondence had been addressed no longer lived here. As you are undoubtedly aware opening mail to which you are not the named recipient (or authorised to do so by the named recipient) is illegal. Consequentially I was not aware of the intent of these mailings.

The second item which I carefully and clearly informed the call centre operative of was the deliberate non-use or ownership of TV reception equipment at 1 Manor Farm Cottages. This important piece of information appears to have been lost somewhere.

Hence, I would like to take this opportunity to point out that there is no equipment at these premises being used for the purpose of receiving television signals (either wirelessly or by any other means) at the same time or near the same time as other members of the public as part of a broadcast or service.

Therefore, in reference to the above paragraph, my fellow tenants and I have no intention of paying the licence fee or playing host to further threatening behaviour from the TV Licensing Agency.

I hope that this situation can be resolved expediently. To this end, I would like to extend the agency any help it may need. An inspector is welcome to visit by appointment on Wednesday afternoons from two ‘o’ clock onwards, all day Thursday and from one ‘o’ clock onwards on Friday afternoons.

To arrange an appointment, please contact myself in writing at the above address. I look forward to hearing from you soon.


Yours sincerely,





Robert Barnes IEE

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