I used to work evenings as a TV Licensing Officer, here’s how it worked:
The leg work was subbed out to one of the debt collection agencies that I still work for. It is batched in postcodes and I had a preferential list of the postcodes that I would like the work allocated to me – all in the same town. This obviously meant that I covered the same areas on a regular basis (crucial point).
TV Licences are ‘attached’ to addresses NOT names and it is the missing and mis-matched addresses that create the calling lists when cross-referenced to the address database. ie, if an address on the database does not have a licence match then that address then becomes targetted. This can be for a variety of reasons and that is why a visit is made.
As a Licensing Officer it was my job to call at an address and find out why there was no licence registered, and also ‘sell’ a licence should one be required. Often the house would be unoccupied, sometimes demolished. I was paid a small fee (25p per house I think) for logging this information. If the door was answered and the occupier had a valid licence, but had recently moved in and not informed TVL, then I was paid a fee (£3.50 I think) to record the info so that the database could be updated.
If the door was answered and a licence was required (if you call in an evening when most households have the telly on it’s obvious they’re watching and the vast majority admit so there and then) then I had a range of options to sign them up to. Weekly payment cards, monthly payment cards, cheque, cash (yes really, folk used to hand me £125 in cash quite regularly!!) or a direct debit. Each option earned me a fee of between £7.00 and £11.00, with a DD being most lucrative. In the vast majority of cases I would come away from these houses with a ‘sale’ as folk filled their pants when they found a TVL bloke stood on their doorstep.
Now, moving on to the crux of the OP’s original question, no, I had no right of entry at all. Whenever I came across a property where the occupier claimed to have no TV then I would always politely ask for a quick look round downstairs to confirm this. Again, most folk were happy for me to do so and it took less than 10 seconds to poke my head round a couple of doors then be on my way again. If denied access I’d walk away, no problem. However, the knock-on effect of each scenario were quite different as I had codes to note how the visit went on my paperwork.
In the case of those that let me in, all the threatening letters stopped and they stopped being inundated with TVL mail. Also, whenever that address subsequently appeared on my list I noted that I’d checked inside, and that then stopped the mail for another extended period. I’d knock on the door maybe once a year and the householder was usually grateful that by doing my job their ‘hassle’ had dramatically reduced or stopped altogether.
In the case of those that refused (politely or otherwise) the mail didn’t stop. In fact it probably increased. The address then became focussed on and Enforcement Officers (with warrants) started to take an interest. I used to scan the ‘Court in Brief’ section of the local paper and plenty of familiar names/addresses regularly appeared with fines for being caught with a telly and no valid licence.
For what it’s worth, I’d say that you’ve more to gain by inviting the chap to have a quick peek inside. The chances are he’s on commission and trying to get round as many houses as possible to earn a wage (and not really interested at all in your lifestyle) and that you’ll get a lot less of the kind of mail that seems to incite so much vitriol and high blood pressure on here.
