[ad_1]
For those who’re on modest means, the cost of the licence fee going up by £5 on 1 April of all days is a bit of a bad joke.
Certainly, for residents at St Crispin Retirement Village, it’s hard to see the funny side.
Among them is 83-year-old Stan Fritton who, since last November, has been embroiled in a battle over how much he and his neighbours should be paying for the BBC.
Their accommodation coming under one roof, they previously paid £7.50 each, qualifying for an accommodation for residential care (ARC) licence.
They then turned a former storage room into one of two spaces for visitors to stay the night and were told by post they’d contravened the TV Licensing Act.
Letters demanding residents pay full price started turning up addressed to almost 100 of the residents.
As Mr Fritton puts it they were “being sent to 95-year-old widows [who are] seeing something that says investigation with a big stamp and what have you… it’s frightened them to death.”
He says demands for payments have even been sent to those with dementia.
“They’re not listening and they’re choosing not to listen,” he says of interactions with TV Licensing.
While Mr Fritton says the retirement village’s managers have now shut the room and will be reapplying to get the licence back, he is adamant they haven’t broken any rules but can’t get an officer to come out to see that the room isn’t a dwelling.
Resignedly his main frustration is that: “They’re choosing to antagonise residents here needlessly.”
In a statement, a spokesperson for TV Licensing said they “continue to liaise with the managers of St Crispin’s… and hope to have this matter resolved as soon as possible.”
Price rises to £174.50
How the BBC collects its money is an issue that extends way beyond one retirement village.
Under the current BBC charter, prices will now rise for the next…
[ad_2]
