NEARLY 600 TV licence dodgers were caught during a month-long blitz in Blackburn.

TV Licensing officers caught 598 dodgers during the September crackdown - almost 10 times the number caught during September last year.

Regional manager for Blackburn, Paul Willars, said: "We warned customers that the blitz campaign was coming to Blackburn so people had ample opportunity to go out and buy a licence. Those caught watching TV without a licence will now have to face the consequences of breaking the law.

"Whilst we are pleased with the success of the blitz, our aim is not to prosecute people but to increase licence sales so we are disappointed that so many people were caught and are now facing a hefty fine."

The blitz campaign involved a TV Licensing task force of enquiry officers, high-tech detector vans and sophisticated hand-held detectors, which targeted the estimated 1.8 million licence dodgers across the country.

The blitz was supported by TV Licensing's database, which drives enforcement activity and ensures that any address without a TV Licence is checked. The database is one of the largest in Europe, listing 26 million addresses. A total of 1,275 people have been caught without licences so far this year in Blackburn.

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