My life flashed before my eyes when I was hit with a £438 fine and threatened with bailiffs, the removal of my car and even a possible stint behind bars - all because I didn't have a TV licence for 15 days. It all started one afternoon in January last year when I heard a knock at the door. As I swung it open, I was greeted by a man I assumed was a police officer - he was dressed all in black with a high-vis body camera strapped to his chest.
It was a TV Licence Officer, a role outsourced to a private business that 'processes services', Capita Experience, but he was friendly enough to lure me into a light-hearted conversation. We scoffed at the weather, discussed my working from home, my job in general, my battered-looking car on the driveway from a car crash I'd recently been in, how long I'd lived in the area - then at the address and if I was aware that I had no TV licence. I explained I didn't know and that it couldn't have been long - my ex-partner used to pay it monthly and had recently moved out.
I hadn't received any reminder letters and I confessed, I forgot. That, and my ex took his TV with him, so it's not like I had a physical reminder, either. I admitted I'd watched an episode of The Apprentice on BBC iPlayer (Image: NQ/Unsplash) But I did have a projector with a Firestick and somehow ended up admitting to having watched an episode of The Apprentice on BBC iPlayer, which had just aired in the last two weeks.
I received a verbal caution for my honest confession an.
