TV viewers are being warned about potential £1,520 fines as TV Licence detector vans patrol the streets.
Sports fans are set to watch a lot of television over the next couple of weeks with the Paris Olympics set to be one of the most watched sporting events of 2024. Following the opening ceremony on Friday, people will be glued to the TV to see how Team GB get on.
The Express reports that to watch any of the BBC coverage or any live Olympics coverage on the BBC or the Discovery app, viewers are being warned they must pay for a £169.50 TV Licence as well as the £3.99 Discovery app subscription fee. The TV Licence company, subcontracted by the BBC, has warned it has a fleet of ‘detector vans’ ready to issue £1,000 fines to any household caught watching the Olympics without a TV Licence this month.
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It comes after reports that 500,000 households cancelled their TV Licence in the past year, none of whom will now be able to legally watch the Olympics on the BBC or live on Discovery. The TV Licence warned: “We have a database of approximately 31 million licensed and unlicensed addresses. This tells us if your address has a TV Licence. All our visiting officers have access to this database. This means they can check if you have a licence or not.
“If you tell us that you do not need a TV Licence, our officers may still visit you to confirm this. We also have a fleet of detector vans that can detect the use of TV receiving equipment at specifically targeted addresses within minutes.”
The TV Licensing can then refer the case to court. If the courts find you guilty, the magistrates will decide the level of fine. You may have to pay:
- A maximum fine of up to £1,000 or a victim surcharge of 40% of the fine if you live in England or Wales.
- In Scotland, Channel Isles or Isle of Man there is no equivalent, but a court can award compensation. In Northern Ireland, the surcharge is called the offender levy and is £15 – and the court often award compensation.
- Prosecution costs of around £120 if you live in England, Wales or Isle of Man.
- In Scotland and the Channel Isles there are no costs, and in Northern Ireland we request loss of revenue costs.
That means the maximum fine and costs in total would hit £1,520.
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