OAPs’ Cornish screen tease

Protest at over-75s’ TV licence fees

FURIOUS OAPs are plotting to confuse BBC administrators by writing cheques in Cornish as they voice their anger at losing free TV licences.

Pensioners are planning a campaign to “gum up the works” when the fees kick in on August 1. The Silver Voices OAPs group aims to make it more difficult for officials to operate the licensing system.

It could include writing cheques for the £157.50-a-year fee in Cornish or Gaelic, “forgetting” to date or sign them, or making them for the wrong amount.

Silver Voices’ director Dennis Reed said: “Our campaign has fired the imagination of older people who are fed up of having their lives and contributions undervalued by society. We now feel able to take direct action to protect our rights. The intention of our campaign is to force the Government and the BBC to find a way to reinstate this vital benefit.”

The Tories have handed responsibilty for funding free TV licences to the BBC. From August, only over-75s on pension credit will be eligible for the benefit, which the

Mirror is campaigning to save. Silver Voices’ plan, first revealed by the Mirror, is aimed at making the cost of administering and enforcing the licence fee “much more expensive than keeping the free licence for a relatively small group”. Labour peer Lord George Foulkes said: “Older people have contacted me worried they will have to give up their TV or refuse to pay and get into trouble.”

Save free over-75s TV licence