Humorous Excuses For Not Paying a TV Licence

By Andrew Marshall

The BBC has reported that 400,000 people were caught watching television without a TV licence in 2012. The reasons given for them not being paid include genuine errors, but also some humorous excuses.

There are a number of reasons for genuine errors that lead people to believe they don't have to pay for a TV licence when, in fact, they do. Students who are living in halls of residence are one such example. They may believe that having a TV licence in an entire hall or flat is all that is required, whereas in reality they require one for each apartment. Each apartment/room has their own lock and they are numbered as separate flats, meaning they count as one flat and require a television licence each.

When a TV licence is and isn't required can be another area of confusion. For example, people can or cannot watch different types of television through the BBC iPlayer without paying the licence fee. If live TV is viewed through the BBC iPlayer then a TV licence is required by law. If it is only used for on-demand television, however, then a TV licence is not required meaning people can watch programmes that were viewed the previous day, for example, without paying the licence fee.

The fees gathered from people paying a TV licence fee go towards funding the BBC and has to be paid by all television viewers even if they don't watch any BBC channels. Bizarrely, those who only watch satellite TV have to pay a licence fee while those who watch on-demand programmes on the BBC iPlayer don't have to pay.

As mentioned earlier in this article, there have been some humorous excuses used by some caught not paying their licence fee. Some of these are below:

Someone claimed that their dog is related to the Queen's Corgi's so they didn't think they had to pay. Not sure this would make a difference even if they were related to the Queen's Corgi's... or even the Queen herself.

Another queried why they would have to pay for a TV licence for a TV they stole as no-one knew they had it. Two points here; firstly, you are not paying for a licence for a particular TV but to watch television, and secondly, confessing to the offense of not paying the licence fee is probably preferable to admitting to the crime of theft as well.

Somebody said their three year old son should pay as he is the only one who watches the television. I'm not sure a three year olds allowance would stretch that far and even if it did whether he could be expected to be aware of this particular law.

Losing weight was another excuse, with one guilty partly claiming that they had to spend all their money on new clothes. Not wishing to pay for a full year because they might die in six months' time and only paying for a black and white TV licence because they don't watch much TV were two other attempts at excuses that were never likely to work.

There is constant debate regarding the TV licence. Some don't believe they should be "funding the BBC", as they see it, especially if they don't watch their channels. Others believe it is worth the cost for the lack of adverts and the quality programming, such as documentaries, other broadcasters cannot afford to make.

Written by Andrew Marshall ©

For more information visit Lester Aldridge.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Andrew_Marshall