There’s been a lot in the news recently about charging the elderly for TV licences and controversy about prosecuting people that don’t buy one, writes Robert Heaven.

Licence detector vans were once rumoured to roam the streets seeking out houses that did not have a licence.

If found, the occupants of the vans would then knock on the door and try to gain entry to provide further proof the TV was working. Many believed it to to be a BBC myth and recently the BBC stated that there are no vans at present. But in the 1970s detector vans were seen on the Cirencester estates - real or not.