Court Summons for TV License

aneonmoose

Hi all!

So, I got a court summons for non-payment of TV License. Only thing is, the license for my address is under my dad's name. They sent a canvasser to the address ages ago, who gave me a notice for payment after saying my name. I stupidly accepted it - he did have my full name! Didn't realise what he wanted at the time until I confirmed I was me. I just let my parents know (I'm like 85% sure this notice was given to me when I was still underage) and didn't think about it. So imagine my surprise when I get a feckin court summons for April!

Spoke to my dad about it, he said I should go to the court date and just show them his bills, proving that the license is under his name not mine and I should get off scot free. Do you guys reckon that'll be enough?

Also considering giving them a SAR to ask where exactly they got my name from - not a citizen so not the electoral register, and anyway like I said, I was 17 at the time I'm pretty sure.

This was a very waffly post, sorry. Basically, do you guys think it'll be enough to just show them that my dad's the one they're after, so to speak?

Please don't let this thread devolve into discussions on whether the license is extortion (it is), I'm feckin ****ting it here so I just want to know if it's a life in the slammer for me :D

If there's a licence for that address just bring it to court.

Atlantic Dawn

A licence is for a specific address not a person to have a TV. I take it your address is separate to your dad's in that case?

doughef

Part of the terms and conditions of living in ireland.

If there is already a license at the address?, then happy days.
If not why should you expect to wiggle out of it ?

Pay up or face the consequences.

fonecrusher1

Yeah pay up. We need to make sure RTE can pay Joe Duffy his modest salary.

Degag

Jaysus just pay the licence if there's a tv in the house.

Edgware

If there is a licence then all will be fine. Of course you could also advise your father to apply for a rebate considering all the ****e R.T.E. have been showing recently

Bobblehats

Degag wrote: »

Jaysus just pay the licence if there's a tv in the house.

There’s not though. There’s a feckin Gameboy!

gozunda

Ring them and explain.

And I presuming you and your dad were living at the same address at the time of the licence in question.

A good few years ago - TV licence inspector arrived looking for TV license under the wifes maiden name for some odd reason. She explained that it was under my name. Showed them the licence and that was that.

iwillhtfu

Are sure there's a licence for your address? The inspectors are fairly on the ball with them these days and know which houses don't have a licence and deliberately call to them, It's no longer a case of knock and ask.

McGinniesta

nice bit of an oul summons

myshirt

These cases are small potatoes in the overall scheme of things but it's extremely frustrating.

My brother was over at a friend of a friends house, and happened to answer the door to the TV License inspector. He didn't even live there, yet got lamped with a court summons also.

You might think common sense would prevail when he got to court, but nope.

2lazytogetup

I smell bs

whisky_galore

doughef wrote: »

Part of the terms and conditions of living in ireland.

Pay up or face the consequences.

A walking tv licence ad we got here.

ThewhiteJesus

My license was up in October, I just read this thread and paid before I got a summons, thanks for the wake up call op

roper1664

What happens in the case that there is no longer a tv at an address that previously had one, and previously paid the license fee?

Do you just stop paying or do you have to inform them in some way?

elperello

https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055794011&page=106

OP, take your query to this thread.

Plenty of expert advice on tap.

lucalux

roper1664 wrote: »

What happens in the case that there is no longer a tv at an address that previously had one, and previously paid the license fee?

Do you just stop paying or do you have to inform them in some way?

Call them up and inform them there's no TV on the premises. No problem with that in my experience.
Obviously, don't have a TV and say that

corner of hells

Bring the licence and television to court , just to show them how serious you are.

ahnowbrowncow

I moved house recently and the tv licence inspector called out after a few weeks. He said that the court summons isn't their only method of dealing with non compliance.

Sometimes they get Ray D'arcy to call to your house and force you to watch his Saturday night talk show on repeat until you decide to pay. Be careful OP.

corner of hells

ahnowbrowncow wrote: »

I moved house recently and the tv licence inspector called out after a few weeks. He said that the court summons isn't their only method of dealing with non compliance.

Sometimes they get Ray D'arcy to call to your house and force you to watch his Saturday night talk show on repeat until you decide to pay. Be careful OP.

Move your house again.

fonecrusher1

ahnowbrowncow wrote: »

Sometimes they get Ray D'arcy to call to your house and force you to watch his Saturday night talk show on repeat until you decide to pay. Be careful OP.

What an appalling tactic. Dastardly even if I may say so.

_Brian

You can write to the clerk of the court and provide evidence that the summons is a waste. It would be struck out without the need to attend.

_Brian

_Brian wrote: »

You can write to the clerk of the court and provide evidence that the summons is a waste. It would be struck out without the need to attend.

Very odd advise. The court clerk can't dismiss a case and what you are suggesting is defending yourself by letter prior to the court date without the prosecutor being present. What is the clerk disagrees? Can they automatically find you guilty?

larchielads

aneonmoose wrote: »

Hi all!

So, I got a court summons for non-payment of TV License. Only thing is, the license for my address is under my dad's name. They sent a canvasser to the address ages ago, who gave me a notice for payment after saying my name. I stupidly accepted it - he did have my full name! Didn't realise what he wanted at the time until I confirmed I was me. I just let my parents know (I'm like 85% sure this notice was given to me when I was still underage) and didn't think about it. So imagine my surprise when I get a feckin court summons for April!

Spoke to my dad about it, he said I should go to the court date and just show them his bills, proving that the license is under his name not mine and I should get off scot free. Do you guys reckon that'll be enough?

Also considering giving them a SAR to ask where exactly they got my name from - not a citizen so not the electoral register, and anyway like I said, I was 17 at the time I'm pretty sure.

This was a very waffly post, sorry. Basically, do you guys think it'll be enough to just show them that my dad's the one they're after, so to speak?

Please don't let this thread devolve into discussions on whether the license is extortion (it is), I'm feckin ****ting it here so I just want to know if it's a life in the slammer for me :D

As long as there is a licence for your address paid in full or being paid for as in monthly or weekly it doesn't matter who's name its in. As in you could live in a house that I rent to you as long as I pay the licence for that address it doesn't matter who owns the tv or watches it or lives there as long as it's being paid for. It's for the address not the person

Aongus Von Bismarck

I have a holiday home in Ireland, and was very happy to pay my TV licence when it came up for renewal earlier this month. This is despite the fact I didn't visit my holiday home at all last year. I happen to think RTÉ do a fine job considering their limited budget, a collapse in advertising, and the inevitable comparisons made with the BBC. Public service broadcasting is a cornerstone of democracy, and I'd be in favour of the fee being deducted at source to support that mission.

The licence fee here in Germany is €210, and the vast majority of people are happy to pay it. You might not like or be interested in everything they produce, but someone is, and that's the point of public service broadcasting. I also see a lot of moaning about how much people like Joe Duffy are paid. Less than 1% of RTÉ's costs are on the salaries of their major stars, and I'm sure they all bring in more in advertising than they are paid. Sites like this have become known for cranks giving out about everything RTÉ does. The radio and television forums here for example are an extraordinary insight into the lives of oddballs who listen and watch shows they utterly despise just so they can complain endlessly about them.

Vic_08

Aongus Von Bismarck wrote: »

I have a holiday home in Ireland, and was very happy to pay my TV licence when it came up for renewal earlier this month. This is despite the fact I didn't visit my holiday home at all last year. I happen to think RTÉ do a fine job considering their limited budget, a collapse in advertising, and the inevitable comparisons made with the BBC. Public service broadcasting is a cornerstone of democracy, and I'd be in favour of the fee being deducted at source to support that mission.

The licence fee here in Germany is €210, and the vast majority of people are happy to pay it. You might not like or be interested in everything they produce, but someone is, and that's the point of public service broadcasting. I also see a lot of moaning about how much people like Joe Duffy are paid. Less than 1% of RTÉ's costs are on the salaries of their major stars, and I'm sure they all bring in more in advertising than they are paid. Sites like this have become known for cranks giving out about everything RTÉ does. The radio and television forums here for example are an extraordinary insight into the lives of oddballs who listen and watch shows they utterly despise just so they can complain endlessly about them.

In TV parlance, I enjoyed the early seasons but the AVB show has long since jumped the shark.

fonecrusher1

Aongus Von Bismarck wrote: »

The licence fee here in Germany is €210, and the vast majority of people are happy to pay it. You might not like or be interested in everything they produce, but someone is, and that's the point of public service broadcasting. I also see a lot of moaning about how much people like Joe Duffy are paid. Less than 1% of RTÉ's costs are on the salaries of their major stars, and I'm sure they all bring in more in advertising than they are paid. Sites like this have become known for cranks giving out about everything RTÉ does. The radio and television forums here for example are an extraordinary insight into the lives of oddballs who listen and watch shows they utterly despise just so they can complain endlessly about them.

Its not moaning. Its simply a justified collective observation that such an utterly talentless, eternally whinging broadcaster is paid a grossly disproportionate salary. Thanks uncle Gaybo!

doublejobbing 2

fonecrusher1 wrote: »

Yeah pay up. We need to make sure RTE can pay Joe Duffy his modest salary.

The top 10 RTE presenters cost, in wages, a licence payer a grand total of about 1.50 per year.

Ryan Tubridy wouldn't even make the top 10 of UK TV presenters.


https://www.womanandhome.com/life/news-entertainment/uk-highest-paid-tv-presenters-55472/

People complain about the quality of RTE. We can all get their (UK) channels but how many people in Ireland watch This Morning and Strictly Come Dancing?

Has anybody watched the X Factor in the last five or six years tops?

The bitterness about RTE is off the scale.

They make good documentaries.

Their current affairs output is of a good standard.

Back in the day they left the UK terrestrial channels in the dust when it came to showing US TV programmes first.

They would get to broadcast films years before the UK channels would get them. FFS ITV used to start a film at 9pm and pause it for a half hour to show News at Ten. A bleedin joke shop of a set up.

fonecrusher1

doublejobbing 2 wrote: »

The top 10 RTE presenters cost, in wages, a licence payer a grand total of about 1.50 per year.

Ryan Tubridy wouldn't even make the top 10 of UK TV presenters.


https://www.womanandhome.com/life/news-entertainment/uk-highest-paid-tv-presenters-55472/

People complain about the quality of RTE. We can all get their (UK) channels but how many people in Ireland watch This Morning and Strictly Come Dancing?

Has anybody watched the X Factor in the last five or six years tops?

The bitterness about RTE is off the scale.

They make good documentaries.

Their current affairs output is of a good standard.

Back in the day they left the UK terrestrial channels in the dust when it came to showing US TV programmes first.

They would get to broadcast films years before the UK channels would get them. FFS ITV used to start a film at 9pm and pause it for a half hour to show News at Ten. A bleedin joke shop of a set up.

I'm not complaining about RTE. We should have a state broadcasting service. I like some content produced and broadcast by RTE. Some of it is excellent. I want it to succeed and improve. The flip side is a lot of the content is ****e and some of the "stars" who basically have jobs for life get paid an obscene sum of money not in alignment with what they contribute. Not all in fairness just a few.

I'm seeing a trend here. So if you don't offer a glowing appraisal of RTE and almost foam at the mouth that the License fee is super value this translates into you're embittered, begrudging, and moaner? Goway ourrah dah.

elperello

Once we have decided that a Public Broadcasting Service is something we want in Ireland we then need to agree on what form it should take and how we should pay for it.

You'd think that would be a relatively simple task but we seem to be making heavy weather of it on Boards for years now.

Every discussion descends into complaining about salaries and resentment over the licence.

aneonmoose

It is not Brilliant. So, my parents didn't pay it and now I've got a summons. Can I get it paid before the case and just grovel and say that we just let it slip our minds, won't happen again your honour yadda yadda? Or am I SOL with €1000 or however much they'll demand?

aneonmoose

Atlantic Dawn wrote: »

A licence is for a specific address not a person to have a TV. I take it your address is separate to your dad's in that case?

It is not Brilliant. So, my parents didn't pay it and now I've got a summons. Can I get it paid before the case and just grovel and say that we just let it slip our minds, won't happen again your honour yadda yadda? Or am I SOL with €1000 or however much they'll demand?

Edgware

Edgware wrote: »

If there is a licence then all will be fine. Of course you could also advise your father to apply for a rebate considering all the ****e R.T.E. have been showing recently

RTE 1 today:

https://www.rte.ie/entertainment/listings/television/#!/rte1/2021-01-22

aneonmoose

doughef wrote: »

Part of the terms and conditions of living in ireland.

If there is already a license at the address?, then happy days.
If not why should you expect to wiggle out of it ?

Pay up or face the consequences.

We don't even use Irish TV. Like, at all. Our TV is used exclusively for our own foreign cable but that's not even the point - I got a court summons for something my parents fecked up with, so that's why I want to get out of it. Because I a) had nothing to do with the finances in our flat, b) am an unemployed student and c) I actually no longer live with my parents. And, you know. It's a feckin court summons to a case worth like €160, which will cost the taxpayer a pretty penny, for something I had nowt to do with, despite supposedly being in a pandemic (are fines courts essential? there's a philosophical question) and that still does not explain how the hell they have my name to say I lived at this address. Bloody brilliant.

To preface any angry responses - I am happy to pay taxes and charges and licenses for things, I get that it's how capitalism works. But I was a minor, with no responsibility for the TV License at the address, and I didn't even get a reminder, or a notice that if it is not paid, then it'll go to court. Like, they literally ambushed me at the door, gave me a bill which I passed on to my parents and then, over a year later, I get a freaking court summons. Feels like some steps were skipped.

aneonmoose

2lazytogetup wrote: »

I smell bs

If only. Sadly, this is 100% true, and 100% annoying.

Mimon

whisky_galore wrote: »

A walking tv licence ad we got here.

That ad is an abomination. Stick their terms and conditions up their hole.

ebbsy

I got a summons before, paid it and then phoned the TV licence office. It was then struck out.

Mimon

elperello wrote: »

Once we have decided that a Public Broadcasting Service is something we want in Ireland we then need to agree on what form it should take and how we should pay for it.

You'd think that would be a relatively simple task but we seem to be making heavy weather of it on Boards for years now.

Every discussion descends into complaining about salaries and resentment over the licence.

Wouldn't make a blind bit of difference to the Montrose mafia. They obviously don't care what the public think as evidenced by the muck they churn out.

Sheep Shagger

Do they still send people to Mountjoy for not paying a TV license.. ...only to be processed and released the same day?

aneonmoose

ebbsy wrote: »

I got a summons before, paid it and then phoned the TV licence office. It was then struck out.

You mean you got the summons so you paid the license, phoned them and got it struck out? Just making sure I understand you lol

B.A._Baracus

aneonmoose wrote: »

Hi all!

So, I got a court summons for non-payment of TV License. Only thing is, the license for my address is under my dad's name. They sent a canvasser to the address ages ago, who gave me a notice for payment

Hi op.
Sorry I am a but confused. You say for your current address?

Would I be right to assume your dad owns the place you live in? Like he bought another place and you live there?

If so, you are going to get hounded as the current tennant. Doesn't matter if your dad doesnt live there.
If it's a case of you live in your family home while your dad lives else where then It's pretty much the same. If you lived with your dad then yeah he you could just say "sure he owns this"

I say just pay it and be done with it. I don't like the idea of paying it myself. But I also don't like the idea of going to court and maybe, in some small cases, being fined 1,000 euro if I can't wiggle out of paying the initial fee. Some things are not worth the hassle.

aneonmoose

B.A._Baracus wrote: »

Hi op.
Sorry I am a but confused. You say for your current address?

Would I be right to assume your dad owns the place you live in? Like he bought another place and you live there?

If so, you are going to get hounded as the current tennant. Doesn't matter if your dad doesnt live there.
If it's a case of you live in your family home while your dad lives else where then It's pretty much the same. If you lived with your dad then yeah he you could just say "sure he owns this"

I say just pay it and be done with it. I don't like the idea of paying it myself. But I also don't like the idea of going to court and maybe, in some small cases, being fined 1,000 euro if I can't wiggle out of paying the initial fee. Some things are not worth the hassle.

Hiya! So, my parents rent the flat I grew up in. I no longer live there, as I'm in uni. We don't own the property. If I pay the €160, will that mean I don't have to go to court, or how does it work? Do I go to court with a payment receipt? My criminology course in college did not cover this haha, thanks in advance

B.A._Baracus

aneonmoose wrote: »

Hiya! So, my parents rent the flat I grew up in. I no longer live there, as I'm in uni. We don't own the property. If I pay the €160, will that mean I don't have to go to court, or how does it work? Do I go to court with a payment receipt? My criminology course in college did not cover this haha, thanks in advance

Ah I get you
Don't pay. You are no longer living there and the flat is not in your name. This is a clerical error on their part.

You've nothing to worry about. Ring up the TV license crowd Monday and explain how they got their facts wrong, you got a court letter etc.

You'll be fine

aneonmoose

B.A._Baracus wrote: »

Ah I get you
Don't pay. You are no longer living there and the flat is not in your name. This is a clerical error on their part.

You've nothing to worry about. Ring up the TV license crowd Monday and explain how they got their facts wrong, you got a court letter etc.

You'll be fine

Thank you SO much You've made me feel so much better, I was getting seriously stressed! I'll give them a ring first thing Monday and explain it all, hopefully it ends there!

Sarcozies

If you want to show the court theft, show them Ryan Tubridy's annual wage package.

aneonmoose

Sarcozies wrote: »

If you want to show the court theft, show them Ryan Tubridy's annual wage package.

Heh, I would but in my (admittedly limited) experience courts don't have a sense of humour

Capt'n Midnight

Sheep Shagger wrote: »

Do they still send people to Mountjoy for not paying a TV license.. ...only to be processed and released the same day?

Never happened.

Not paying a court fine or contempt of court are serious offences.

Kivaro

Did the OP end up in the slammer for not paying the license?
Ryan Tubridy only earns €1/2 million per year, but everyone needs to pay up to keep him in the lifestyle he is use to.

elperello

Sheep Shagger wrote: »

Do they still send people to Mountjoy for not paying a TV license.. ...only to be processed and released the same day?

Capt'n Midnight wrote: »

Never happened.

Not paying a court fine or contempt of court are serious offences.

Just to clarify, you cannot be jailed for not having a TV licence.

The prescribed penalty is a fine.

If you don't pay the fine you will end up being summonsed to court where if you refuse to pay the fine you may be jailed.

Generally people committed to prison for failing to pay fines are processed and released. The decision to do this is made by the Prison Service due to lack of space.

Meeoow

Your parents should get the licence and sort it out. Are they going to let you go to court to sort it yourself?