[dazc]

There has to be a sanction for non-payment of fines though. I think the proposal to change the status from criminal to civil is very sensible however. The worst that can happen then is you have a judgement against your name for 6 years.

[jmnicolas]

Seize the TV or other things, but you don't put people in prison for a £150 TV tax in a "democracy" !

Last year, in my country (France) quite a few protestors have lost an eye due to Police violence.

And after that we try to give human right lessons to the rest of the world ... what we're good at is hypocrisy lessons imo.

[Lio]

Sorry, just to repeat the license fee is not a TV tax and is not a requirement for ownership or use of a TV.

It is a requirement if you are going to watch broadcast media with your TV.

If you just watch DVD/Blueray or play console games and don't have an aerial or dish you don't have to pay.

[nicky0]

You don't need a license to own a TV that's right, but damn if you accidentally tune it to ITV4 for 5 seconds while hooking up the DVD player, or if you click on a BBC News (or Sky news for that matter) live stream on the web in your unlicensed house, you are a criminal right there. Literalty that is a criminal offence. Is that proportionate?

[Lio]

"Accidentally" tune it to ITV4?

Surely that would require you to accidentally connect it to an aerial or satellite dish and then accidentality select the tuning option on your TV.

Given that we no longer have analogue broadcasts and you're unlikely to pick up a fuzzy signal with a HDMI cable you might as well just "accidentally" bittorrent the thing you want to watch in 4K and have done with it.

"Yes your Honour I did just happen to accidentally watch 3 weeks of Tour de France highlights on ITV4 at 7.00pm each night whilst connecting up my DVD player"

...frankly, there are more believable vacuum cleaner "accidents" reported in A&E on a Saturday night. :P

[nicky0]

OK I get it. How about a slightly more beleivable scenario: your license elapses and you choose not to renew. You didn't disconnect the aerial yet. You switch on the TV to watch a DVD, it tunes automatically to the last channel. Oops now you're a criminal.

Or even more realistically, read some of the news articles about how most TV license convictions are women with low incomes who got bullied by the enforcers who came to the door into signing a confession that yes they did watch the TV for a week after the license ran out.

[dazc]

The people are put in prison for 'not paying a fine'. They are not put in prison for 'not having a TV licence'.

For someone not wanting to have a TV licence the options are simple:

1)Abide by the law and only watch TV that is not a live broadcast. Then be prepared to defend yourself if you are harassed by the authorities.

2)Don't abide by the law and take your chances. If someone knocks on your door and asks if you have a TV tell them to get lost.

3)Admit to having a TV, face prosecution and pay the fine.

4)If all above fails, and you don't pay the fine, do your time in prison for contempt of court.

None of this is comparable to losing an eye.