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Britons angry at on-the-spot fines for expired televison licences
2 Jan 2004 by Malcolm Drury
A scheme to impose automatic on-the-spot fines on owners of television sets without an up-to-date licence has been criticised by viewers across the UK.
The scheme was introduced yesterday as part of a number of measures to clamp down on people who evade renewing a wide range of licences, including vehicle tax discs.
Under the rules, which were unveiled last May but only came into effect on January 1st, offenders will be given an on-the-spot fine of £100, as well has having their sets electronically modified for a month to be able to receive only UK Gold. If after that period a licence has still not been obtained there will be a further fine of £1,000 and reception of UK Gold will be replaced with a special new channel, which will show only an episode of the 1970s series "Civilisation" with Jacob Bronowski, followed by a 1968 interview with Malcolm Muggeridge, in an endless loop.
Douglas Ramsbottom, a spokesman for the BBC, told DeadBrain that the Corporation had pressed the government to make this change and was glad to see it finally in effect. "We really need those licence fees," he said, "and although we would have preferred not to have had to go with such draconian measures, we feel that it is only fair that those who do pay for our fine programmes should not subsidise those who do not. We think that a steady diet of Bronowski and Muggeridge will soon get licence hold-outs back into the fee-paying fold."
A Downing Street official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told our reporter that there is no truth in the rumour that couples must now renew their marriage licence annually and that failure to do so would mean that the licence, and therefore the marriage itself, was invalid. "I know that this will disappoint some people," he said, "but that, I'm afraid, is how it is. Anybody wanting a quick way out of a marriage might be better just not renewing the TV licence and hoping that Messrs. Bronowski and Muggeridge drive the unwanted spouse out."
She quickly added that that suggestion should not be construed as official government policy.
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