Bailiffs called in to recover licence cash ...from BBC!

BAILIFFS were instructed to collect a debt from the BBC after they refused to reimburse a pensioner for a TV licence he should have had free.

- Dominik Lemanski

When Haydn Welch, 63, checked his 82-year-old uncle’s accounts he noticed he had been paying to watch television, despite licences being free for over-75s until August last year.

Haydn Welch, from Somerset, wrote to the BBC’s TV Licensing arm requesting a refund for nearly £1,000 overpaid in licence fees over the seven years – but was refused.

The BBC claimed it could not help as it did not keep records of customers’ dates of birth, so had no way of knowing when a customer was eligible for a free licence.

Mr Welch convinced his uncle’s building society to refund the cash on the basis that the amount charged on the direct debit was wrong.