Kettering Northants QC

Yes, prosecutions still made on a regular basis - most courts, most days

The inspectors certainly used to have quite exytensive powers and can obtain warrants to search your premises in extreme circumstances, they can even enter your premises without a warrant if you consent.

If you're watching the BBC I tend to think you should pay the licence fee because that is how they're funded. After all you are prepared to pay Mr Murdoch to watch his channels. If you never watch BBC then I have more sympathy with the view that the Licence fee is wrong.

As for who they go after, like a lot enforcement work they have more people to deal with than officers to do the work. Hence they must priortise their work. I've heard they priortise their work on
(1) people who have recently been convicted of having no licence
(2) people who have failed to renew a tv licence
(3) Rental accomodation, particularly council emergency accomodation where there is a regular turn over of people all of whom should have a TV licence (the council usually make it clear they don't provide one)

Sounds cruel but I guess the theory is that by going after the low hanging fruit and publicising your results you persuade the vast majority of people to buy a licence. I suspect that most of their officers have a few addresses that are "too hard to do".

Isn't the offence they usually persue having equipment to watch TV without a licence, not necessarilly watching the TV? Therefore if you have no aerial and no TV how are they going to prove it? I can't see them persuading a judge to issue a warrant to seize your computer to see if somehow you've managed to stream live TV to it, in the absence of anything to suggest you definitely are watching live TV it seems somewhat disproportionate and therefore unlikely.