This will not help.
Instead of getting a criminal record for refusing to pay the telly tax you'll get a CCJ. Which can be very damaging to your credit history and ability to obtain a mortgage.
Tuesday, 12 May 2015
Oh really?
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9 comments:
Surely that is not legally possible.
If it is decriminalised then you have no contract with the BBC, therefore you cannot be taken to court for breach of contract, so you can't get a CCJ.
Surely there has to be a legally enforceable contract before you can be sued in the County Court.
RT is probably correct, in which case, nobody will pay the TV tax any more, why would they?
Although to be fair, somebody who can't afford to pay the TV tax won't be able to pay a mortgage either.
RT. That was my thought. But 'they' will work to frame the contract in such a way that if you fail to pay it, it will be judged as a default. Look, I am not lawyer enough be able to make this point coherently. Perhaps you can explain?
I am not a lawyer either, but there is hundreds of years of English case law.
It seems to me that an individual can easily argue that they have never consented to receive BBC signals (I certainly haven't), and therefore there is no contract. Any attempt by the BBC to enforce payment would be duress, and contracts under duress are void and unenforceable.
It would be like McDonald's giving away free burgers, you take one, then McDonald's sues you when you refuse to pay for it. The terms of the transaction are that the product was being given away free.
In more blunt terms, if the BBC gives its product away for free, that is their problem, they can't give it away free then insist that you pay for it afterwards.
This is what I would argue with a judge if I end up in court.
RT. OK. Got it. So if the Telly Tax is decriminalised then that's it.
Goody goody.
"It would be like McDonald's giving away free burgers, you take one, then McDonald's sues you when you refuse to pay for it. The terms of the transaction are that the product was being given away free"
Not exactly. If they had signs up saying 'Free Burgers' and then tried to make you pay that would indeed be unenforceable. But if McDs had a pile of burgers in their restaurant and you took one, even though there was nothing to stop you, and refused to pay, that would still be theft. Just as is the case in any shop really. The goods are all there free to take, but its still theft if you do.
The issue with the BBC is that they are putting their wares all over town, not keeping them on their property. Its like McDs coming and putting burgers in your house without being asked, and then demanding payment if you eat them. Which I assume would get thrown out by a court (isn't there some sort of law about unrequested goods turning up in the post any way?).
One assumes the law would be changed somehow to legalise it all anyway.
There would just have to be legislation saying along the lines of everyone who watches TV owes the BBC £x a year and the debt is enforceable in the county court.
A fixed penalty notice is usually a civil debt that is enforceable in court.
It could be framed that you agree to a contract by watching TV in the UK, much like you can agree to a contract when you park a car next to a sign that states you will be charged £60 if you stay over 2 hours.
"Which can be very damaging to your credit history and ability to obtain a mortgage"
Making it harder for people to get into debt is a good thing, surely?
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