A TOTAL of 30 television licence offenders from Swindon have appeared at the town's Magistrates' Court this month, with another 27 due to appear on July 30.

TV Licensing, the Government authority in charge of collecting the £116 fee, says all were caught by its detection teams without licences.

Evaders risk a £1,000 fine plus court costs, and must still buy a licence if they want to watch television without further risk of prosecution.

TV Licensing spokeswoman Sara Powell said evasion wasn't worth the risk, and added: "TV Licensing caught over 400,000 evaders in the UK last year. With a database of over 28 million addresses and state-of-the-art detection equipment, including a new fleet of detector vans launched in the area last month, TV Licensing inquiry officers can easily tell whether there is an unlicensed set being used .

"We do prefer people to buy a licence rather than face prosecution and for people who would prefer not to buy the licence in one lump sum there are many different ways to pay," said the spokeswoman.

n Details of ways to pay can be obtained on (0870) 241 5590 or at www.tvlicensing.co.uk.