JOHN Connor (Letters, March 20) writes that he thinks that it is disgraceful that the TV licence fee is to rise in price whether you watch it or not.

I had quite a time persuading the licensing authority that my husband’s small TV, on which he had watched sport and politics (is there a kinship between them?), was up for sale. I haven’t watched TV for about 20 years and just wanted to sell the set after he died in 2008. Letting them know by phone that he had died was not enough. I had to send them copies of his death certificate, the advert from the local press and a receipt signed by the purchaser saying that the set had been bought and taken away. Only when I had sent these things was it acknowledged that I didn’t need a licence.

In the intervening eight years I have received the standard letters reminding me that I need a licence if I own a TV. Each time I respond by inviting someone to come along and search the premises for the illegal set I am supposedly harbouring. I know that laptops can be used to view live programmes but I have no desire to do so. Quite honestly I cannot stand TV – never could. Something to do with print being better than pictures.

Thelma Edwards,

Old Comrades Hall, Hume, Kelso.