Boobs about the Tubes

I used to get this type of crap from the WA DOL about cars that did not run. Well, everything except for the “inspectors”.

When I heard from a constituent complaining of persecution by the TV licensing authority, who not believe him when he told them he did not have a television, I was sympathetic and took up his case. The response I received from the Authority was typical of this government’s revenue arms – inflexible, and determined to raise the maximum cash it can from the long suffering public. As usual I did not take the matter to the press, as the issue came to me in confidence and many constituents do not want their personal details splashed across the local – or sometimes the national – newspapers.

Today I can vouch for the hectoring behaviour of this body, backed up from my personal experience. I have a studio flat in Westminster, which I use when I have to vote after 10 pm in the Commons – or attend a working dinner in London – and then need to be up and out early the next morning for a breakfast meeting or the like. It is not a place I plan to spend my evenings in. I decided not to buy a TV partly because I deeply resent having to pay a poll tax to the BBC for the TV coverage of public issues they choose to put out, and have no intention of paying them two, one for home and one for the flat.I do not like the way they use so many voices who want higher taxes, more European government and more regulation for every problem.I also tire of the very large number of self advertisements on the BBC, when no-one else can buy the advertisement time.

When I moved in they sent me a letter reminding me of the need to take out a TV licence. I wrote back telling them I did not have a TV. For my pains I received another couple of standard letters telling me I needed a TV licence, and that inspectors might call unannounced to check up on me. I wrote back again complaining of the harassment. They replied saying they were sending me another standard letter, that inspectors would be calling unannounced, and they were sorry I was cross about it. They said they would be writing to me in a similar vein at least annually.

It is typical of this government and its state broadcasting corporation that the only thing they care about is extracting more money from the public, and they cannot believe that anyone could possibly live without their TV output. They clearly regard anyone who says they do not have a TV as a liar, and spend large sums on writing them endless letters and sending out inspectors. Their inspectors will, of course, be wasting their time in my case, as I am most unlikely to be in any time they call, unless I am to experience the knock at the door at 2 am, to confirm that I am living in a version of the Soviet Union circa 1960.

The man is helping Britain not go too far over their Kyoto limits (aka: Saving the Planet) by shortening his commute and not having at TV, and how does the government repay him?

By cutting down a forest to make the paper to send him official nasty-grams full of threats.

I once offered to have the hulks which the state was demanding I put a license plates on delivered to the front steps of the capital DOL administration building if they didn’t stop sending me crap in the mail about my tabs being expired. The lady kindly tried to tell me that I was not allowed to have hulks on my private property without having a scrappers license.

I asked her if she thought using a truck to tow them down there before shoving them up the Governor’s ass would be OK or if I should have them dropped from an airplane one by one instead?

Oddly enough, being rude worked. I never heard a single word from the DOL again.

Link found at Samizdata