TVL/BBC's detection figures TVL/BBC's letter to me of September 2007, signed by Enforcement Manager John Hales, declares that "30,840 evaders" had been caught the previous month. Here is the letter, dated in the top-right corner, with the relevant paragraph highlighted: The figure of 30,840 sounded familiar to me, so I examined Mr Hales' previous letters. I found that his April 2007 letter also said that 30,840 evaders had been caught the previous month, i.e. March 2007: Clearly, what TVL/BBC has done is to reproduce the same letter, complete with same content, in two different months. This means that the 30,840 figure in the September letter is untrue. The figure may also be untrue in the April letter. It may be the case that TVL/BBC does not think that the figures matter; any old figure will do. But it does matter, because Mr Hales is purporting to be making a statement of fact. The sentence commences, "We take TV licence evasion very seriously". Moreover, the September letter is written to stand independently from the April letter; it is in the present tense ("You are hereby notified, etc"), and declares itself to be the first step in a legal process ("... we have received no response from you ... therefore we have no choice but to investigate"). On top of that, the letter is addressed to me personally. There is no doubt that BBC/TVL is obliged to use correct information. Example 2 The following two letters have come to my attention from this website which also has a selection of BBC/TVL letters. Again signed by Mr Hales, one is dated July 2006 and the other September 2006; each claims that the previous month's capture rate was 33,781 people: Example 3 (provided by Swissguard) The above letters show identical figures used for different periods; the next two letters show the reverse, that is, different figures for the same area and period. The first letter, dated August 2007, says the average annual evasion rate for Scotland South is 70,888; yet, the December letter gives it as 44,313: Note that the letters are not from John Hales, but from one Sarah Armstrong. The significance of this is that lying to the public is not confined to one individual but is practiced across the organisation. Some people regard the BBC's use of bogus detection figures as humourous; I do not agree. If a chief constable claimed detection rates which he knew to be false, it would be a resigning matter. If a private company used fake sales figures to encourage sales, it would be a breach of trading standards law. I quote the BBC Trust from 18 July 2007: "The Trust has … made clear that we regard any deception or breach of faith with our audiences as being utterly unacceptable" (link). Yet, the BBC continues to lie to non-viewers every month. Update May 2008: since uploading the above two letters by Sarah Armstrong, I have been forwarded another, dated April 2008. Compare her signature on this new letter to those above: While on the subject of falsified signatures, here are two more, from Michelle Tunstall, dated September 2004 (left) and March 2008. Please click here to indicate the usefulness of this site