Press Release

Pensioners Group calls for Licence fee avoidance to be decriminalised

September 12 2018

Dumfries and Galloway Pensioners for Independence are calling on the UK government to decriminalise licence fee avoidance after BBC chief Tony Hall proposes to scrap licence fee exemption for over 75s.

Currently those over 75 can apply for an exemption from the current licence fee of £150.50.

The BBC can afford to pay stars like Gary Lineker £1,750,000 while Lord Hall himself is paid £205,000 a year. Pensioners get £125.95 a week.

UK pensioners suffer from the lowest rate of pensions in the developed world. They suffer more than most from the lack of rural transport, bank closures and lack of retail outlets. Care providers are increasingly under threat. For many the television provides their only distraction and light on the outside world.

Tony Hall said “people over 65 or over 75 consume many more TV services than others”.

We’ve been told we live too long. We’ve been told we use the NHS too much. We’ve been told we didn’t save enough. Now we’ve been told we watch too much TV!

Last year there were 180,000 prosecutions for TV licence avoidance – 10% of all criminal cases in England and Wales.

If the BBC wants to act with a cavalier disregard for its social obligations it should lose the protection of the criminal justice system and be forced to seek redress like any other commercial business.

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