A woman who landed a fine for failing to pay for a television licence says it is "disgusting" that she was taken to court. Liza Evans from Cwmbran told WalesOnline she had not watched live TV for years before a licensing inspector reported her.
The 40-year-old appeared at Cwmbran Magistrates' Court last week and pleaded guilty to using a colour TV without a licence. A colour TV licence costs £159 a year, while a black and white one is £53.50. Ms Evans was ordered to pay a £60 fine, £120 in prosecution costs and a £34 victim services surcharge.
The law requires that people who watch or record live TV must pay for a licence. You do not need one if you only watch shows on catch-up, with the exception of BBC iPlayer. Ms Evans insists she had only been using catch-up services — but never iPlayer — and claims she only pleaded guilty because she had been warned of a £600 fine if convicted after a not guilty plea.
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"Live TV is s***," said the mum of two. "There is nothing to watch so we just stuck to Netflix, Youtube and Disney. Anything to do with the BBC, we didn't watch it.
"I am on benefits. I'm epileptic and my Disability Living Allowance had dropped quite a lot so I couldn't buy the licence for a year. The last thing I was thinking about was the TV licence — there were more serious things going on in my household.
"My kids had an Xbox for Christmas in 2020 and we could watch things through that, so we didn't need our Sky package anymore. We tried to cancel the Sky subscription but they said that because we'd signed an 18-month contract, we'd have to pay to cancel. So we left our Sky box but we didn't use it. Sky TV is just c**p."
Ms Evans recalls an inspector knocking at her door in May 2021 and pointing out that she had not paid for a licence for about a year but still had a Sky subscription. She says she made clear that the family only watched catch-up TV. That day she arranged payments for a new licence to prevent further visits from TV Licensing and "thought nothing more of it" — until around three months ago when a letter informed her she was being prosecuted, she says.
Ms Evans added: "I thought, 'I'm going to have to plead guilty because I don't want to be stuck with a £600 fine.' I think it's disgusting."
The mum is now able to watch live TV because she has been paying for a licence since May 2021 but apart from Queen Elizabeth II's funeral she cannot remember the last time she did. "I watch shows like Sons of Anarchy and Grey's Anatomy — as my partner calls them, the 'unrealistic programmes'. He likes watching his dumpster diving videos on Youtube.
"It's been that long, I can't even remember the last time I watched a BBC series. I haven't watched EastEnders for years. All the BBC programmes have turned c**p. Now and again when the kids want to watch a film on the BBC I will let them, because I've got the TV licence back in place."
According to the latest Ministry of Justice data there were 47,622 prosecutions and 44,106 convictions for failing to pay the TV licence in the year ending June 2022. You can read more of the latest news from across Wales here.
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