If you watch or record live television without a licence, you are breaking the law.

If found guilty of such, you will be issued a fine by your local Magistrates Court.

How much is the fine?

You can be issued a maximum fine of £1000, plus legal costs.

In practice the fine is substantially less, and is often around £350. Legal costs are normally around £70.

The fine is set by the court, not TVL. The court is required to take into account the income of the offender, and the seriousness of the offence, when setting the fine.

Court Statistics

Since court records are public, some local newspapers publish summaries of court proceedings.

In this case the data is from Bradford Magistrates Court, covering 78 cases in October 2008. Although this is a very small sample, some interesting statistics can be seen.

Around 60% of convictions were against women, which is similar to the national average of 70%:

Most offenders were in their 20s and 30s:

Including costs, and rounded to the nearest £50, the typical fine was £450:

In 65% of cases the fine, including costs, was £425.