TV licence offenders’ dire dodges
By Rochester-People | Friday, December 17, 2010, 08:00
“A SQUIRREL weed on my TV so now it doesn’t work properly,” was just one of the bizarre excuses licence fee dodgers made for tuning in illegally.
“My drunk boyfriend ate my payment card” and “the licence does not fit in the back of my telly” were two more tall tales enquiry officers were told when they caught viewers watching without a licence.
The dim defences came to light when TV Licensing, the body charged with collecting and monitoring licences, published figures for the number of people busted without one this year.
In Medway, Chatham was the worst place for offenders, with 732 people caught evading the £145.50 tax between January and October. Another 588 were nabbed dishonestly watching television in Gillingham, with 543 dodging the fee in Rochester.
Many were hauled before the courts and fined up to £1,000.
TV Licensing’s South East spokesman Ian Fannon said: “No matter how creative people get with their excuses, watching or recording live TV without a licence is against the law.”
For details about the fee or to find out about different payment methods, visit www.tvlicen cing.co.uk
The statistics were revealed just a week after it emerged a woman in Chatham was reprimanded for dialling 999 to report someone had stolen her snowman.
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