Dozens caught dodging TV licences in Winchester area

4:29pm Monday 14th January 2013 in Winchester

Dozens caught dodging TV licences in Winchester area Dozens caught dodging TV licences in Winchester area

AROUND 40 people in Winchester were caught watching TV without a licence in the first six months of 2012, according to the latest figures.

Across Hampshire, the total was more than 3,700 people, including 1,100 in Southampton, 480 in Portsmouth, 100 in Fareham and 70 in Eastleigh.

Nationally 204,000 people were caught, meaning the national rate of evasion remains at five per cent – with 19 out of 20 households correctly licensed.

A spokesman from the TV Licensing Agency said: “These figures paint a very positive picture as the vast majority of people in the UK continue to pay their licence fee. Unfortunately a minority of people do not pay for their licence, which is unfair to the law-abiding majority who do pay.”

Anyone who is caught watching TV without a licence faces a fine of up to £1,000.

Comments(3)

fladave says...
12:10am Wed 16 Jan 13

Why,with all the commercial stations you now have in Britain,do you still have to pay a license to watch TV.Does the BBC still have that much say?

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huckit P says...
7:52pm Wed 16 Jan 13

It's time the licence fee system was overhauled so that only those wishing to watch the BBC should pay for it. With technology as it is today there must be a method where TV's could be made incapable of receiving particular channels. If I pay for SKY or Virgin (for example) they should be able to block the BBC and allow me to watch channels that do not attract an additional fee.

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Grumpyaswell says...
8:57am Sat 19 Jan 13

Would some one please explain to me why we still have a TV licence at all? We must be one of the few if not the only one that still has this archaic tax because that's what it is. Please don't tell me that it's so the BBC can operate. The ABC in Australia seems to survive without a licence fee and without advertising as does the U.S. ABC. Save our taxes, stop paying for a bunch of civil servants. How much do you think it cost to find the 204000 offenders? Far more than the licence fee they evaded I'll bet!

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