BBC TV Licensing has been hit by a major data governance row after it has emerged that missing chef Claudia Lawrence – whose disappearance over 14 years ago sparked a nationwide hunt – is still being chased for her TV licence fee.
Claudia’s mother Joan said letters are still being sent to her daughter’s terraced cottage in York, with one recent missive even threatening court action and a £1,000 fine.
Joan, who estimates that two or three letters have been sent every year since Claudia went missing, said it “needs to stop”, adding the letters are causing the family “untold heartache”.
She said she attempted to contact the TV Licensing Authority after her daughter was threatened with legal action in January but was ignored and another letter followed.
Claudia was 35 when she vanished on her way to work at York University on March 18, 2009. North Yorkshire Police have treated the case as murder but despite multiple people having been arrested and released over the years her fate remains unclear. The incident even appeared on BBC show Crimewatch.
Joan told The Sun: “I’ve written to them to tell them what’s happened, and the police are supposed to be sorting it out, but the letters still come. Receiving these letters causes me untold heartache.” She said one was particularly “nasty and horrible”, threatening that not paying up could affect her credit score.
More than 52,000 people were fined following TV licence prosecutions in the latest figures from 2020.
The TV Licensing Authority told the Sun: “We are sorry for any distress caused to Ms Lawrence. As she indicated the property may be occupied at some stage, TV Licensing stopped any letters to the address for three months.
“However, the property remains empty and we have placed an indefinite hold on the address today and this will not be removed until we are informed the property is occupied.”
Capita has fulfilled TV licensing collection, management and administration on behalf of the BBC for more than 20 years. In 2022, it secured another five-year contract extension.
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