Parrots, microwaves and the King of Scotland

It’s our job to collect the licence fee by making sure everyone who needs a licence has one, and to bring in as much funding as possible for BBC programmes and services. In 2015 we collected more revenue than the previous year and held our costs to the very low level of 2.7p for every £1 collected, for the second year running.

Although evasion rates are low at around five to six percent, people evading the fee cost the BBC between £195 million and £234 million in lost revenue in 2014/15.

Licence fee payers tell us they think it’s only fair we catch those who try to avoid paying. We’re increasingly doing more activity online to reach evaders, and people who genuinely don’t understand licensing requirements.

Parrots, microwave ovens and the King of Scotland all feature in the list of implausible excuses and many from the list have been turned into animations by five of the UK’s leading animation universities.

Our staff keep a record of the stranger excuses they hear throughout the year, and we use them to highlight the lengths some people will go to in order to avoid paying. One Plymouth resident claimed his TV was only used to send his pet goldfish to sleep, while a TV viewer in Glasgow told a TV Licensing Officer he didn’t need a licence as he simply stole his neighbour’s signal. An exasperated West Midlands viewer informed us that she couldn’t pay for her TV licence as her payment card had been eaten by her hamster and she was waiting for it to “come out the other end”.

Degree course students in Derby, Middlesex, Belfast, Dundee and Bristol have worked their creative magic on some dubious explanations for non-payment, with some amusing results.

Sian Healey is Head of Communications and Policy for TV Licensing

• Watch the 50 animated excuses for not paying the TV License on YouTube