TV Licensing PR harlots have been pounding the holiday beat and warning campers about the perils of using of television receiving equipment in their tents without a valid TV licence.
Across the land TV Licensing goons are staking out hedgerows adjacent to campsites. They are equipped with the latest technology, which allows them to detect the merest flicker of television light through translucent tent walls. According to TV Licensing their equipment, which has never been used evidentially in court, is so advanced it can distinguish between a tent and caravan from as little as 50 yards away.
Or so they'd have you believe anyway.
Newbie TV Licensing PR gobshite Dualta Redmond appeared on Andy Comfort's Breakfast Show on BBC Radio Humberside this morning (available for a limited time on iPlayer, about 1 hr 53 mins into the programme). He's a pretty hesitant speaker, which is reflected in the transcipt below.
Having listened to the piece a few times we have some concerns about the accuracy and completeness of Redmond's comments - for example, if TV Licensing called on a holiday cottage and found guests using an unlicensed TV, it would be those guests and not the cottage owner liable to prosecution.
Having listened to the piece a few times we have some concerns about the accuracy and completeness of Redmond's comments - for example, if TV Licensing called on a holiday cottage and found guests using an unlicensed TV, it would be those guests and not the cottage owner liable to prosecution.
A full transcript of Redmond's patter appears below:
Andy Comfort (AC): Campers in East Yorkshire and Northern Lincolnshire are being urged to make sure they have correctly (sic) licensed for watching television while on holiday this summer.
With many campsites now offering internet access an increasing number of campers are keeping up to date with their favourite programmes live on their tablets and their smart phones.
Well, Dualta Redmond joins me now from TV Licensing. Morning.
Dualta Redmond (DM): Good morning Andy.
AC: So let's get this straight. What are the rules about watching television while you're camping? What can and can't you do?
DM: Yep, well, erm, so, erm the good news is that the majority of people who are going camping this summer will already be covered by their home licence. So that's people who are staying in caravans or who have their touring mobile home hitched up to the back of their car. They will generally be covered by their home licence.
People who are going to stay on campsites where their (static?) is or mobile homes, they will also, generally speaking that's usually the responsibility of the campsite owner to make sure that there are television licences for those. But if you own your own caravan - sorry, static home or caravan - you may need to purchase a second licence or, if all the family are going on holidays with you, you may also be covered with your home licence.
What we'd ask people to do there is go onto the TV Licensing website and kind of just fill in a very short declaration to tell us that all the family will be going to, you know, the static caravan, wherever it may be, and then you'll be covered by that home licence.
AC: So it's as simple as that? Then they don't then have to pay any extra?
DM: No, no, not at all. Erm, the only instance where they may have to pay extra is if the static caravan or mobile home is considered as a second home, so you know, if you go there very frequently and there will be people still left in the family home, and you're back and forth, then it will be considered as a second home. That's only the very small instance where you might have to purchase a second licence, but the vast majority of people, as I say, will be covered by their home licence.
AC: And people who are going away say for a fortnight in a cottage somewhere, what about that? I mean, is the cottage owner then liable to have a TV licence?
DM: Generally speaking, yes - the cottage owner will be liable for that. If the cottage owner hires it out with the purpose of, you know, renting it out to holidaymakers throughout the holiday season, then it will be the responsibility of that cottage owner. But, you know, if there's no television in the cottage and people bring - as a lot of people bring on their holidays now, you know their tablets, mobile phones and that kind of thing - they don't have to worry about a TV licence for those because they'll be covered by their home licence for those as well.
AC: Is it difficult for you to police all of this?
DM: Erm, we police it much in the same way as we police anything else, whether it's, you know, other kind of, whether it's, you know, boats, or residential homes, or campsites, whatever it is. What we do is we try to get the message out there to as many people as possible about their licensing requirements. So, as I say, a lot of people are already covered by their home licence, but we would work with, you know, camping and caravan clubs throughout the UK, campsites, and give them information so that they can in turn give their guests the required information and make sure that they know if and when they need a licence. You know, it's very simple, we get the message out there and most people - around the UK it's 95% of people who are correctly licensed, so the vast majority of people have their licence anyway, so when they go on holiday that doesn't really change.
AC:Dualta, thanks a lot for your time this morning. Dualta Redmond there from TV Licensing.