Who is Mr Doyle? And what is this high-pressured job, which requires such ruthless pursuit of cash?
Despite his tough words, Mr Doyle is not a Wall Street financier, or even an ambitious car salesman. He is an area manager for Capita – the outsourcing giant that earns more than £2billion a year from public sector contracts.
Capita collects taxes and assesses benefit claimants for the Government. It is also entrusted by the BBC – and paid £59million a year – to collect the £145.50 licence fee.
On a rainy Tuesday morning in January, Mr Doyle is at the Holiday Inn in Chingford, East London. He and his colleague, Lanre Coker-Ojo, are interviewing candidates hoping to be a BBC licence fee enforcement officer.
These are the officials who visit homes where there is no registered licence and sell TV licences. They question residents and make sure they sign up if they watch TV or BBC iPlayer. Last year alone, they turned up at three million properties – and caught 298,000 evaders.
Using handheld machines, they can register homeowners for direct debits on their doorsteps.
They even take cash from those who can only spare a few coins.
‘We’re looking to get 28 licence sales per week from each officer,’ Mr Doyle tells our undercover reporter. ‘As soon as you hit that magic 28, there’s a bonus – a commission scheme.’
Who is Mr Doyle? And what is this high-pressured job, which requires such ruthless pursuit of cash?
The salary is £20,000 a year, but, as Mr Doyle explains, ‘You can earn another thousand, fifteen hundred pounds a month.
‘If you spend 15 minutes going from door to door and they are only about two minutes apart then you’re not going to see enough customers,’ says Mr Doyle.
‘Not seeing enough customers, you’re not going to be generating enough return to the company and the company will be kicking my backside to say what’s going on.
‘Cash, debit, credit card, we’ll take anything. I tell people I’ll take shirt buttons. I’ve not had to take any yet. It’s just an ice breaker.’ Mr Doyle explains that for each sale on a doorstep, TV Licensing officers are required to complete a ‘conviction statement’.
Conviction statements are the forms Capita officers fill in during home visits. They record whether they have noticed a TV through a front window, or heard a programme playing.
They take notes of everything that is said in conversation with a customer – including their name and whether they admitted watching TV or BBC iPlayer.
For the conviction statement to be admissible in court, the officials have to give a formal police-style warning about their right to silence and that anything they say could be used against them.
Shockingly, Mr Doyle advises the undercover reporter to compile evidence against residents for conviction statements by chatting to them informally – before then reading them the caution. This suggests people could have no idea they may get dragged to court when answering seemingly friendly questions at their front doors.
Hit the magic 28 sales a week and there’s a bonus
TV Licensing has always maintained that it would prefer people to buy a licence rather than be prosecuted. Capita says its bonus scheme is based only on sales of licence fees and not convictions.
But Mr Doyle tells the undercover reporter that even if people pay when they are visited at home, they can still be prosecuted, given a criminal record – and made to pay more money in court fines.
‘You can only get the sale with a conviction statement so basically you’ve got to take 28 conviction statements before you can start hitting extra money,’ Mr Doyle tells the undercover reporter. ‘The more you get, you earn more money. That’s all it is.’
During the 90-minute interview it is clear the Capita bosses have little time for money problems, family bereavements or – as Mr Doyle puts it – ‘sob stories’.
‘It is not a difficult job, I can’t stress that enough,’ he says.
‘But it is quite difficult as soon as you throw in these things called members of the public. Because for whatever reason they’ve all got a story.
‘You’ll get nearly all the information you need for a conviction statement in the first 40 seconds of conversation with the customer.
‘But it will still take you five or ten minutes to actually get it down onto the form because they’re going to constantly interrupt you.
‘So it’s just a case of learning the listening skills, the empathy skills but getting the hand working at the same time.’
Mr Coker-Ojo regularly interjects, apparently keen to ensure the reporter is tough enough. ‘The customer says: “Listen I can’t afford to pay.” What would you do? And how would that make you feel?’ Mr Coker-Ojo asks.
Mr Doyle brags: ‘One of my officers – my highest performing officer – generally comes in around about 38 to 42 sales a week. They’re obviously after more money. My guy really goes for it.’
As well as the interview, the bosses set a written challenge to show the best times for catching different types of people at home.
In 2011, the BBC gave Capita a £560million contract to administer the licence fee for eight years. Since then, revenue for the BBC from collections has risen by more than £200million to £3.74billion.
Residents have complained repeatedly that Capita staff have hounded them unfairly to force payments and refused to believe them if they said they did not watch TV.
Particularly concerning are figures that show far more women than men are jailed for not paying licence fee evasion fines.
Out of 38 people jailed for the offence in 2015, 20 were women. Five were in their fifties. They served an average of 24 days each. In 2014, 39 people were locked up for the offence and 28 of them were women.
Experts believe this is because women are more likely to answer the door and be willing to answer questions.
For whatever reason they all have a story
Capita says it does not target women or vulnerable people and that any ‘pertinent’ questions are put to residents only after a caution has been given. It says officers work out when people are home because this is more cost-efficient.
A spokesman added: ‘The suggested content of the recruitment interview does not reflect the high standards that we expect, and paints a wholly misleading picture of the culture, skills and attitude of TV Licensing’s operation.’
The BBC says there is no evidence women are unfairly targeted and that where a first time offender pays before court TV Licensing will drop the case.
A spokesman added: ‘TV Licensing goes to great lengths to encourage people to buy a licence, and will only visit when other methods have not worked. It’s our policy to only prosecute evaders as a last resort.’
From an RAF man with dementia to a mother in a woman's refuge - no one's safe from the bullies
Families hounded by BBC licence fee collectors last night called them ‘intimidating’.
They accused officials of snooping through windows and forcing their way into their homes.
Some said vulnerable loved ones have been left so frightened by threats of prosecution that they paid the £145.50 TV Licence fee even when it was not necessary.
Over the past month, the Mail has spoken to people across the UK who complain of being treated unfairly by licence fee officials.
They include an RAF veteran with dementia and a young mother taken to court after being hounded by a TV Licensing officer at a women’s refuge. A Methodist church was also targeted – even though there is clearly no TV inside.
HARASSED AT A WOMEN’S REFUGE
Elke-Dee Watson, 27, was hounded by a TV Licensing officer at a women’s refuge
A young mum was hounded by a TV Licensing officer at a women’s refuge. Elke-Dee Watson, 27, took sanctuary there after threats by a former partner.
But six days after moving in, an enforcement officer confronted her on her doorstep.
He was let in through security gates by a neighbour who thought he must have known Miss Watson as he was calling her by name.
Miss Watson was accused of evading the licence for the six days she had lived there. There was already a TV inside, left by a previous tenant. Feeling threatened, Miss Watson agreed to sign up to a TV licence payment plan.
But despite agreeing to pay, she received a summons a few days later. At Nuneaton Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday, the case was thrown out.
Miss Watson, who has a six-year-old child, said: ‘The man who visited me was a big chap. That intimidated me as I wasn’t expecting anybody. I’m glad it’s over now.’ A TV Licensing spokesman said: ‘At time of visiting, we were unaware of Miss Watson’s personal circumstances.’
RAF VETERAN WITH DEMENTIA
A former RAF officer with dementia who forgot to renew his licence was told by a Capita official that he did not have time to ‘listen to excuses’.
The Kosovo war veteran, 46, who asked not to be named, had paid the bill on a rolling direct debit for the last 12 years. But in October, he forgot to check if the money was taken from his account.
A ‘thuggish’ licensing officer forced his way into his home and refused to take his health problems into account. The case was only dropped on Tuesday when a doctor wrote to Nuneaton magistrates. The man has a terminal brain tumour, spinal tumours and early onset dementia.
He said: ‘I’d only opened the door a couple of inches but before he even introduced himself, he stuck his foot in the door. He offered to pay then, but was told the only option was to go to court.
A TV Licensing spokesman said: ‘We withdrew the case once further information came to light.’
CHURCH HOUNDED FOR PAYMENTS
A church in Nottinghamshire has been hounded for payments by TV Licensing. East Leake Methodist Church has received about four letters per year, threatening fines of up to £1,000 for fee evasion.
Each time, treasurer Roger Latham has replied saying there are no TVs in the building.
Mr Latham, 66, wrote in one letter: ‘Only God lives here and he knows everything, so doesn’t need to watch the television.’
Mr Latham, former chief executive of Nottinghamshire County Council, said the letters began arriving in 2009. He said: ‘I sent all the letters back saying: “This is a church”.
They only stopped when Mr Latham told TV Licensing he feared the church’s address was being used by others trying to evade the fee.
He added: ‘People who don’t need the licence are treated like those who are being fraudulent.
A spokesman for TV Licensing said: ‘We updated our database last May to ensure mailings to the Church stopped.’
FINED £220 FOR WATCHING ONE SHOW
Fashion worker Leanne Dutton has been fined and has a criminal record
Fashion worker Leanne Dutton phoned TV Licensing last year to tell officials she had watched one episode of Channel 4 soap Hollyoaks without a licence.
The young mum was worried she might have broken the law, but was allegedly assured she did not have to pay as it was a one-off.
Six days later, Miss Dutton, 25, was visited by an enforcement officer. She has since been fined and has a criminal record.
Miss Dutton, of Hyde, Greater Manchester, who has a six-year-old son Ellis, cancelled her licence and stopped watching terrestrial TV to save money.
But last August, she reconnected the set to watch Hollyoaks.
Days later, a Capita official arrived at her home. Miss Dutton said: ‘He really banged on the door.
'I initially thought it must be the police because it was so forceful.’
She was found guilty on Thursday of using the set without a licence, was fined £60 and ordered to pay £130 in prosecution costs and a £30 victim surcharge.