Recession blamed for rise in TV licence evaders

Hundreds of residents in the borough have been caught watching television without a licence, new figures have revealed.

A total of 145 residents in Redhill, 51 in Horley and 23 in Reigate were caught shirking the £142 fee last year.

Numbers of those caught in the three towns has risen to 219 in 2009, compared with 188 the year before - an increase of 31.

A TV Licensing spokesman said: "Our methods of detecting evaders is improving all the time. At the moment we have 30 million addresses on our database and we know which ones are watching without a licence."

Those caught watching the box without a licence face a £1,000 fine.

More than 417,000 people were caught watching TV without a licence across the UK in 2009, almost 4,000 more than 2008.

Some of the worst offending towns in the south east were Croydon with 1,330 evaders and Crawley with 680.

The spokesman continued: "There may be some links with the recession and we know this has made it difficult for some people to pay."

A colour TV licence costs £142.50 and a black and white licence is £48.

For more information on how to pay visit: www.tvlicensing.co.uk/info.