A court in Yorkshire has become the first in Britain to ban people from watching TV on their smartphones when in its building.
Scarborough Magistrates’ Court has posted a notice in its waiting area warning people it is a “criminal offence” to view shows on their devices.
The move came after the TV Licensing Authority sent an enforcement letter to the court, as it had not paid the annual licence fee to allow its visitors and staff to access programmes.
But campaigners have branded the move “ridiculous” and say it underlined the need for the charge to be scrapped.
A spokesperson for the Ministry of Justice said the court used to have a couple of TVs, which were removed years ago – but it was still listed on the licensing database.
So nervous court officials imposed the ban on streaming live content on devices while in its waiting area. The wordy notice read: “It’s a criminal offence to watch or listen to the following within the court building. Any TV channel, including BBC iPlayer, Sky, Virgin, or any other pay TV service. This includes live streaming Amazon Prime video, Netflix or YouTube. This also includes watching, recording and downloading on any device.”
Joanna Marchong, of the TaxPayers’ Alliance, said: “This incident just proves how ridiculous the BBC licence fee is. The BBC needs to get with the times and move to a subscription service.”
But a TV Licensing spokesman said: “People covered by a TV licence at their home address can watch BBC iPlayer or stream live content on a battery-powered device anywhere. And you don’t need a licence to watch other on-demand programming on Netflix or other platforms.
“The decision to put up this notice was made by the court, not TV Licensing.”
He added: “There is no TV licence exemption for courts, but any court which does not have TV equipment and does not require a TV licence should make a No Licence Needed declaration to TV Licensing.”
HM Courts and Tribunal Service said: “We enforce TV Licensing laws as required in our buildings.”
The annual licence fee is set to rise by £5 from £169.50 to £174.50 next month and will then increase in line with inflation until 2027.