Court summons even though 'no action would be taken'

[affirmation]

Back in December I had a knock on my door from TV Licensing - after reading these threads I realise now I should have told him to go away but quite honestly I don't really care about the tv license and have no problem paying it except I forgot to respond to the demands. Anyway I set up payments there and then, singed his paperwork after we had been talking about fish for half an hour and he went on his way saying no action would be taken. True enough I received a letter some weeks alter saying thank you for payment no further action will be taken following the field officers visit.

 

 

yesterday I got a court summons for not having a license between November 2013 and December 2013! I phoned them and they said after speaking to the courts administrator that I should reply to the summons but on the day of the hearing they will apply for an order that stays the prosecution until the next hearing date y which time if I have maintained payments they will withdraw the prosecution. I asked for that in writing but was refused.

 

 

So what the hell should I do - I assume that the license payments are worked out to cover the period I didn't have a licence so surely I had license, albeit retrospective - does this matter/count/make any difference?

 

 

Secondly, does the fact that they wrote saying no further action have any bearing - I threw the letter out so have no proof of it!

 

 

And if it goes to court and they do request a stay or adjournment or whatever am I going to get stuck with costs?

[brassnecked]

Send a copy of the No Further Action letter with the returned summons as a defence, I suspect that the TVL Goon has given a completely different account of the "Doorstep Interview" under caution than you remember. Others will know more but it looks like you should have slammed the door in the goons face and said nothing, then gone out to get a license,

[tvlb1]

It's a sad reflection of the dishonest way TV Licensing does business that when it says "pay now and we'll not take any further action" they sometimes do anyway.

A recent example is mentioned in this BBC news article: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-26727068

The gentleman in that article, recently bereaved widower Marcus Greenhouse, was summoned to court on TV licence evasion charges even though TV Licensing said he wouldn't be. He genuinely forgot to pay his licence when his wife died unexpectedly. He was only a few weeks out when TV Licensing decided to target him.

TV Licensing can't be trusted.

[brassnecked]

TVL are run for the BBC by Capita, that just about says it all really.