MORE than 2,100 television licence cheats have been caught out in East Lancashire over the past year, it has been revealed.
Some 1,182 were caught in Blackburn and 1,080 in Burnley during 2006.
No figures were made available by TV Licensing for other East Lancashire towns.
The most number of cheats in Lancashire were found in Wigan which had 1,858 tax dodgers.
Then came Blackpool, Oldham, Preston, before Blackburn and Burnley.
Charlotte Hancock, spokesperson for TV Licensing North, said: "Time is running out for evaders.
"With a UK estimated evasion rate of around five per cent, we are clearly making it harder for people to avoid paying for their tv licence.
"We are committed to ensure that no one is watching television illegally and that everyone is aware of the consequences of not being properly licensed.
"We continue to catch, on average, around 1,000 tv licence fee evaders a day, but we would much rather people pay for their licence than risk prosecution and a fine of up to £1,000."
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