The BBC may have to change the way it collects the TV licence fee, after it threatened to refer a viewer to a debt collector, even after they had paid the charge in full.
The Corporation, which sends out 100,000 letters a day chasing people to pay the £145.50 fee, was too slow to stop the intimidating missives.
Instead of being allowed to watch television in peace, the viewer in question was told that the case would be passed to a debt collector, and that they could face a £1,000 fine.
The BBC Trust has now ordered the Corporation to investigate the situation, and work out how to stop threatening missives being sent out to people that do not owe money.
‘It was not, in principle, acceptable for a fully licensed member of the public to be sent a letter warning of referral to a debt collection agency,’ the BBC Trust said.
‘The BBC executive will be asked to investigate how its system may be changed to prevent such warning letters being sent to licensed members of the public.’
The BBC pays Capita, the outsourcing firm, to collect of the TV licence fee, for a cost of around £70million a year.
A spokesman for TV Licensing said that there were a specific set of circumstances which led up to the debt collection notice being sent my mistake.
‘The complainant later set up a new licence whilst their previous licence was still valid. When they missed their cash payments, letters advised they might be referred to debt collection. This would only happen in a tiny number of cases. We can confirm we will examine these letters.’
However, it is not the first time that TV Licensing has been heavily criticised for its ‘bullying’ tactics.
Capita’s letters send repeated threats that it will impose £1,000 fines on households who do not pay the annual £145.50 charge.
The company also brings almost 3,000 people prosecutions a week, accounting for around a tenth of all cases in magistrates’ courts. Anyone found guilty is left with a criminal record, and between 50 and 70 people a year are jailed.