The Nine Most Bizarre Excuses TV Licence Inspectors Have Heard

Dragging the TVs out to the back garden, claiming the tele is just a stand for your vase and insisting that it's not actually a television are just some of the excuses An Post TV inspectors have been faced with.

One inspector even had a case where he saw people shoving the TV into a closet downstairs, the Irish Examiner reports.

An Post TV inspector Paul Brennan opened up to An Post's staff magazine Postnews and described the worst excuses he's come across when trying to inspect people's TV licences.

1. Out Of Sight, Out Of Mind

Brennan has seen people dragging the TV out to the back garden before they answer the door.

2. Brazen Out

One guy told him he didn't actually have a TV. He invited Brennan in to the sitting room where a 42-inch plasma TV took up half a wall. He claimed it was his computer and then began to curse a well-known electrical shop for selling him the wrong product.

3. Flower Power

One lady claimed that the TV in front of Brennan was broken and used only as a stand for a vase of flowers. When he switched on the TV to check and it burst into life, she said the colour wasn't as good as it used to be.

"It's actually just a stand for my flowers..."

And it gets funnier across the water...

4. Light Up

One woman tried to avoid paying the licence by claiming she only used the glow of the TV as a reading lamp.

5. Caught Red-Handed

A man claimed he didn't think he had to pay because he had actually stolen the TV.

6. Budget Issues

A woman said she lost weight and had to buy new clothes. As a result, she couldn't afford to pay the licence.

7. Future Thinking

One man said he didn't want to pay for a full year. He was quoted as saying, "Knowing my luck, I’ll be dead in six months and won’t get value for money."

8. Gold Medal or Bluffing

One person couldn't pay their TV licence because the Olympic torch was coming down their road and they couldn't get to the shop because the road was so busy.

9. Charge The Kids

A Scottish woman said the only person who watched the TV in the house was their three-year-old son. Was there any way the charge could be taken out of the family allowance?

"He watches it so he should pay".