Scrooge BBC bosses despatched ‘bullying’ letters to pensioners with Christmas Day risk | UK | News | EUROtoday

BBC bosses have despatched warnings to UK pensioners threatening to name on them on Christmas Day if they do not have a TV license.

The company has been accused of “thuggish” ways and trying to drive weak individuals out to fork out.

The discover, threatens a £1,000 high-quality and authorized prices, and reads: “Will you be in on December 25?

“As there’s no record of a TV licence at your address, you should expect a visit from an enforcement officer. It may be on December 25 or another day.

“You could be prosecuted if you are caught watching, recording or downloading programmes illegally.”

It adds: “Our officers visit an address every 10 seconds. And if no one answers, they can come back.”

Campaigner Dennis Reed, of the over-60s group Silver Voices, instructed the Sun that the “threatening” behaviour was nothing greater than a “thuggish tactic”.

He mentioned: “It’s an underhanded, determined try to attempt to ­stress older and weak individuals into paying. To specify Christmas Day of all days is astonishing. Clearly they gained’t be calling on December 25.”

But a TV Licensing spokesman has mentioned that the letters had been despatched in error, reassuring recipients that they won’t be visited on Christmas Day.

In a grovelling apology, they mentioned: “We apologise to anyone who received one. There will be no visits on Christmas Day.”

It comes after the BBC’s annual report, revealed on July 23, revealed that roughly 500,000 households cancelled their TV licences final yr in an enormous blow to the nationwide broadcaster.

TV Licensing bosses say that you may cancel your licence and could also be eligible for a refund if, earlier than your licence expires, you will not be:

• watching TV on any channel, like BBC, ITV, Channel 4, U&Dave and worldwide channels
• watching TV on pay TV providers, like Sky, Virgin Media and EE TV
• watching stay TV on streaming providers, like YouTube and Amazon Prime Video
• utilizing BBC iPlayer

This consists of recording and downloading, on any gadget.