so in October i bought a little TV and video combo as a xmas pressie for someone, now i get a letter from the TV Licensing geezers saying that they have been infomed by
dixons thta i have bought "television broadcast recievng and recording equipment" and that they do not have a record of me having a licence, now i personally dont have one as my parents have one, and i live at home, plus my girlfriend has one for her address. so i am covered.
What i am really miffed about is *****..sons passing on my address, have they now broken the data protection act, or are they oblidged under law to provide the TV licensing people with the details of anyone that purchases a TV, if so then surly dixons should inform me that they are about to do so..

The letter i recieved from the TV people gives me two options, inform them of the licencee at the address it is being used, or inform them of the details of who has the TV (and a visit may be needed to confirm this). to me this second option is rather draconion.
i mean what if i bought this tv as a prize in a raffle,, ami to enforce the winner to give me there name and address..

so what do you guys think, before i go and shout at dixons.. does anybody know if it is law for them to inform the TV people.

I believe that you have to give a name and address when you purchase a TV and the details are sent on to TV licensing.

I've heard that before. Now I'm not sure where they stand with the Data Protection Act, but the odds are that you've signed something to allow them to pass your details on <-- even if it wasn't pointed out to you.

Personally I'd ignore them. They'll probably turn up on your doorstep but if you're covered, let them have all the hassle!

The TV Licensing peeps did this to my great aunt, she decided that all TV programmes were pants and got rid of her TV. The licensing people kept writing to her about her not having a license (she previously had one), then they cam round with papers allowing them to search her house for a TV!!!

TV Licensing!

A few years ago when we moved into our last house we advised them of our new address. We received the licence a week or so later, complete with new address. Then the fun started, we kept getting letters and I kept calling them. Eventually I stopped calling and thought **** it, I'll wait for the TV detector van to turn up and show them our licence. It never got that far... after several months we got an apology letter and a book of 10 first class stamps!

Back on topic, every shop selling TV's will pass your details on - does appear to be a breach of the DP Act.

From www.tvlicensing.co.uk web site

I bought a new TV last week and was asked to fill in a form which gave all my personal details. I asked at the time what this was about and he pointed out that it was TV licencing purposes, and it did say so at the top of the form. I expect there is some statement on the form about data protection so I guess they are within their rights

At some point Dixons would have asked you for your address - why dudnt you ask them want they wanted it for??

I bourght a TV card for a PC once and got the same Letter, i just replied that the address i was living at already had a TV licence and that was that
never heard anything more

on the assumption it was for there records, at no point did they mention it was for the TV people. AND in fact i just remembered that i bought a new TV over the internet, about 4/5 months ago, and i didnt receive any letter from the TV people about that one.

think i'll just let the tv people stew, let em eran there money, come find me i say.. i am well and truly covered anyways.

ahh
cheers mate
just what i allways wanted

luvv ya mannn

that website also goes on to say
"What your help means for us

Once you've notified our TV Licensing Dealer Centre of sales or rentals, the information is logged onto our database. We then compare this list of television owners against details of current licence holders. If they don't match up, then thanks to you, we're probably onto a TV Licence evader"
thats the bit i like.. presumption of guilt.. not the fact that someone could be buying a present..

wireless telegraphy act!

There's a campaign straight away for the Plain English people!

when i was with my parter we got caught 3 times.. whoops!

battered her eye lids and let us off!

that was when we were tight for money after she spent it all

So why worry about it?........unless of course your hiding something
Which of course your not as your a pillar of the community.

oh im covered Pete,, just miffed that dixons didnt tell me..

No infringement of the DPA because the Act contains provisions for the collection of information required for legal compliance by Government bodies (i.e. the processing is a legitimate requirement) and if you check the TV Licencing Website (http://www.tv-l.co.uk/tvlic/privacy/privacy.html), they have all the required DPA policies in place.

If you want to get really picky you can make a subject access request to see what they have on you.

I had a similar thing when living in a student house years ago. We rented a TV for the living room, and we had also paid (rare for students) for a TV licence for the house, but in a different name. The inspectors turned up a tried to tell us that we needed a licence EACH !!! We got out of it by explaining that we never locked our individual rooms (which was mostly true) and therefore anyone in the house could watch any TV, hence the need for only one licence. They got fed up and left eventually.

It does seem very difficult to get away without having a TV license. I wish the same could be said about car insurance

lol exactly, why not have the goverment send a letter to everyone that buys a car.

i had to give my insurance details to lexus when i bought mine !

silly billys then went and lost them

lexus would have not given me my car with out insurance documents. i was delayed nearly a week waiting for them.

So, if you bought a car with a flash ICE system including TV, the dealer wouldn't let you take the car unless you showed your car insurance and TV licence?

LMAO exactly