Disabled mum’s ‘terrifying’ prosecution over non-payment of TV licence

Published

1 year ago

October 3, 2024

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“I still have panic attacks now.”

Claire (not her real name), a disabled mum in her 30s, never imagined she’d ever face criminal prosecution. But earlier this year, that’s what happened – for non-payment of her TV licence.

The stress took its toll on her mental and physical health.

“I don’t think I’m a criminal,” she says. “I have two kids I take to school every day, I try and pay my bills… I had to get anxiety tablets because I couldn’t sleep.”

As the BBC looks to broker a new funding deal with the government in the next three years, critics of the current licence fee model argue it is hard to justify how non-payment is still seen as serious enough to merit criminal prosecution.

The fee is currently a flat rate of £169.50 – poorest households pay as much as the richest.

Claire, who was fined £736 for non-payment, spoke to us anonymously about her experience of dealing with the fast-track system of processing cases.

The whole process, she says, was “terrifying”. At the time the enforcement officer knocked on her door, her partner had recently been jailed for domestic violence. He had previously taken control of her finances.

“All my money was in his account and I wasn’t getting access… from what I was aware he was paying the bills but it turned out he wasn’t,” she says.

The enforcement officer said he understood, Claire says. But a week later she received a letter to say she was going to be prosecuted.

Claire was told she would need paperwork to prove her situation, but didn’t have the money to send off for it. With 21 days to respond she felt she had to plead guilty or the costs might escalate.

“All you think is, ‘If I don’t pay this are they going to put me in prison?’.”

The licence fee has always been the BBC’s bread and butter – but given 500,000 households cancelled last year, there are questions over its sustainability. Other models such as Netflix, for example, successfully exist without needing the threat of prosecution.

Can the BBC still justify it?

Mary Marvel, head of policy at access-to-justice charity Advicenow, says “innocent people are feeling forced to plead otherwise” so their fine is reduced.

Under the Conservative government, various reviews looked into the pros and cons of decriminalising non-payment – ultimately concluding to keep the system as it is for now. Previously, the BBC said switching to a civil system would cost more than £1bn and lead to major cuts.

The Times newspaper recently claimed the current Labour government intends to scrap prosecutions over concerns women are being unfairly penalised. However, Sky News understands this is not the case.

Ahead of the BBC’s next charter review, all the government has officially said is that it isn’t ruling out making changes – and there will be consultation before making any decisions.

Almost three-quarters of 2023 prosecutions were women

Currently, the vast majority of prosecutions are dealt with via a system called the single justice procedure – a fast-track for relatively straightforward cases designed to fix the backlog of court delays.

Cases are processed by a single magistrate in private, and letters from defendants often go unread by prosecutors if an individual pleads guilty.

Almost 31,000 people were prosecuted for non-payment of the TV licence last year. Just over 73% were women.

Why the disparity? In 2023, a BBC review found that more than 60% of single-adult households are female, compared with less than 40% male. The review also found behavioural differences: women are more likely to be at home; more likely to open the door; and more likely to be the point of contact for bills and domestic admin.

Magistrates Association chief executive Tom Franklin says the TV Licensing authority should review pleas and mitigations before cases come before magistrates, giving an opportunity for them to be withdrawn if not in the public interest – “particularly for the most vulnerable in society”.

The government says the decision to prosecute “sits with TV Licensing”, but it is “keeping under review” its oversight and regulation of organisations using the single justice procedure.

A TV Licensing spokesperson said the authority would contact Claire and review the prosecution.

“We have the ability to overturn a conviction when provided with evidence that it was not in the public interest,” they said.

Significant reasons could include domestic violence, and mental and physical ill-health, the spokesperson said, adding that prosecution is always a “last resort”.

For now, Claire is incrementally using universal credit to pay back a fine she arguably shouldn’t have been prosecuted for in the first place.

Entertainment

BBC says Gregg Wallace isn’t entitled to damages, as it denies causing ‘distress and harassment’

Published

5 hours ago

October 16, 2025

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BBC says Gregg Wallace isn't entitled to damages, as it denies causing 'distress and harassment'

The BBC has said Gregg Wallace is not “entitled to any damages” in response to a High Court claim filed by the presenter – in which he says the broadcaster caused him “distress and harassment”.

The former MasterChef presenter is suing the broadcaster and its subsidiary BBC Studios Distribution Limited after he was sacked from the cooking show in July.

Wallace was dismissed after an investigation into historical allegations of misconduct upheld multiple accusations against him.

He has filed a legal claim for up to £10,000 in damages, alleging the BBC failed to comply with a request for copies of his personal data, which caused “distress and harassment”.

In its defence filed at the High Court, Jason Pobjoy KC, for the BBC, said: “It is denied that the claimant has suffered any distress or harassment as a result of the responses of the BBC.

“It is denied that the claimant is entitled to any damages, interest or other relief, whether as pleaded or otherwise.”

The broadcaster further denied that Wallace “has suffered any distress or harassment” as a result of its responses.

The court documents also claim that the presenter failed to give the BBC prior notice of his intention to issue legal proceedings.

The broadcaster has admitted Wallace wrote to it on 6 March this year, asking for copies of his personal data.

Mr Pobjoy said the BBC did not provide Wallace with a “substantive response” within three months of his request “primarily due to the lack of proportionality and scale”.

He said that after designating the request as complex, the BBC responded to Wallace on 7 October and provided him with a copy of his personal data.

The barrister said the “voluntary disclosure demonstrates that the claimant has no basis to claim damages for distress, or otherwise, in respect of the withholding of such information”.

Court documents filed on behalf of Wallace last month said the BBC emailed the presenter on 7 August to apologise for the delay in sending his personal data.

Barrister Lawrence Power said the broadcaster told Wallace it was “taking all reasonable steps” to process the request in “as timely a manner as possible going forward”, but that he had still not received a response when the court documents were filed.

He said that by “failing to fully comply with the subject access requests” made by Wallace, “the defendants acted in breach of their statutory duty and, in doing so, caused distress and harassment to the claimant”.

Wallace began co-presenting MasterChef in 2005, but it was announced in November 2024 that he would step away from his role while the misconduct allegations were investigated.

A review by law firm Lewis Silkin later upheld 45 of the 83 allegations against him, including one of “unwelcome physical contact”.

Wallace issued an apology, saying he was “deeply sorry for any distress caused” and that he “never set out to harm or humiliate”.

Entertainment

Social media star ‘Big John’ Fisher to be deported after being detained in Australia

Published

1 day ago

October 15, 2025

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Social media star 'Big John' Fisher to be deported after being detained in Australia

Social media star “Big John” Fisher has said he is being deported from Australia after he was detained over visa issues.

Fisher, known for reviewing fast food online, arrived in Australia on Tuesday for appearances in Perth and Sydney.

In posts on his Instagram, he said he was questioned by border officials for four hours in the city of Perth.

He said he was due to head home on Wednesday, his birthday, at 6.30pm local time.

“My visa was legal coming in but they are not happy with what I am doing here so they are sending me home,” he said. “To be truthful, I just want to go home now.

“When common sense goes out the window you lose a bit of hope with human beings.

“Well even though I am under lock and key it’s my birthday, I’m still smiling and I still love Australia.

“Just can’t wait to get home to my family and good old England.”

It is understood Fisher was travelling on an incorrect visa.

An Australian Border Force spokesperson said it did not comment on individual passengers.

Fisher, who has more than 680,000 followers on Instagram, went viral for his love of Chinese takeaway and is best known for his use of the catchphrase “bosh”.

He makes regular appearances at restaurants, clubs and major events around the world.

His son, British heavyweight boxer Johnny Fisher, wrote on Instagram: “The Aussies have detained Big John and are sending him home- rumour has it they are frightened of his express pace bowling ahead of the Ashes.”

Entertainment

Stars of sumo head to London’s Royal Albert Hall – and noodles sell out

Published

2 days ago

October 15, 2025

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Stars of sumo head to London's Royal Albert Hall - and noodles sell out

They’re getting through 70kg of rice a day and the wholesaler has run out of noodles. Yes, Sumo returns to London on Wednesday.

It’s just the second time a Grand Tournament has been held outside of Japan – and this is a sport that has records going back more than 1,500 years.

It’s 34 years since the Royal Albert Hall hosted the only previous such event on foreign soil – and the appetite for tickets meant all five days sold out immediately.

Much of the focus is on the two grand champions or yokozuna, the 74th and 75th men to attain the rank.

They’re the Mongolian Hoshoryu Tomokatsu, plus Japan’s Onosato Daiki – who this year became the quickest wrestler to achieve the rank in the modern era.

“I’m happy that Sumo is back after so many years,” Onosato said. “I hope I can show the UK fans how fantastic Sumo is.”

“Being a yokozuna has a lot of responsibility,” Hoshoryu told Sky Sports. “We have to show everyone an example of what a yokozuna is – and that’s very difficult.

“My uncle was a yokozuna – and I’m happy to follow in his footsteps. But I came here to London as a yokozuna which he didn’t, so I’m even happier.”

The two are already great rivals.

At the recent Aki Basho – the most prestigious tournament on the sumo calendar – the pair finished with identical records after 15 days of bouts.

It all came down to a final play-off between the two yokozuna – the first time that had happened in 16 years. It was Onosato who came out on top on that occasion.

Hoshoryu says he is a big fan of basketball and football. He follows Chelsea, although his favourite players are going back a bit: “Didier Drogba and Petr Cech. He’s the ‘keeper. I like this guy!”

Early starts and a hearty stew: The life of a rikishi

The wrestlers – or rikishi – have a rigorous training regime.

They live in communal blocks called stables and practice starts early. Perhaps surprisingly, everyone skips breakfast. After training and practice – and for the younger rikishi, chores – the wrestlers all eat together.

The staple of their diet is chankonabe, a hearty stew packed with meat and vegetables. The feeding of the 40 rikishi who have come over for the five-day tournament is a challenge in itself.

Donagh Collins, the CEO of co-organisers Askonas Holt, said: “We are going through 70 kilos of rice a day. Somebody told me that the wholesaler for the noodles has run out of noodles. We’re really pushing the system here.”

The ring – or dohyo – is just 4.55m in diameter and quite small when two giant wrestlers leap at each other.

The aim of the fights is to either get your opponent onto the floor – or, more spectacularly, shove or hurl them out of the dohyo, so spectators in the ringside seats may be getting extremely up-close to the wrestlers.

The last time the tournament was in Britain, the massive Konishiki, known as the Dump Truck, took centre stage.

The giant Hawaiian was the heaviest-ever rikishi coming in at 287kg – or 45 stone. That’s a lot of wrestler to dodge if he comes falling out of the ring towards you.

The Royal Albert Hall may be firstly a concert venue, but it has hosted the likes of John McEnroe, Lennox Lewis and even Muhammad Ali.

And for the next five days, the cream of the world of sumo will be thrilling the crowds – provided a new noodle supplier is found.

What is a yokozuna?

Yokozuna is the highest rank in sumo, with its name meaning “horizontal rope” and refers to the rope worn around a competitor’s waist as they enter the ring.