6:35AM GMT 20 Mar 2012
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/law-and-order/9154568/Thousands-in-court-every-week-for-not-having-a-TV-licence.html
Thousands in court every week for not having a TV licence
Magistrates have called for the failure to get a television licence to be decriminalised after it emerged more than 3,000 people were taken to court every week for not paying the fee.
One in 10 magistrates' court hearings is now taken up with the offence, which appears more than any other crime.
A total of 140,000 people were convicted of avoiding the licence fee last year, giving them a criminal record and in some cases, those who failed to pay the fine were handed a prison sentence.
But magistrates said the rising number of cases should be dealt with by other means over concerns that evaders were being given disproportionate sentences.
A spokesman for the Magistrates’ Association told the Daily Mail: "For almost 20 years we have been calling for changes in the law so that non-payment of TV licences is decriminalised.
"It had been hoped that perhaps a change might be brought about when the switch from analogue to digital broadcasting was completed but as yet there are no plans for the BBC to move to a subscription."
RELATED ARTICLES
- BBC 'won't pursue iPad TV licence cheats' 09 Feb 2011
- Online viewers prosecuted for not paying TV licence 30 Dec 2010
- Time to stand up to the TV licence bullies 20 Nov 2008
Figures from the Ministry of Justice showed licence fee fines totalled almost £25 million in 2010, up from £16.5 million in 2007.
A TV Licensing spokesman said: "On behalf of the majority who pay, we will prosecute evaders. The estimated evasion rate has remained steady, at a low of around five per cent, for the last five years.
"TV Licence evasion cases may account for one in ten cases, but they take up a very small proportion of court time as few people attend court."
No comments:
Post a Comment