IT may seem laughable that warning letters about TV licence dodging were sent to a group of old folk in Padiham who were exempt in any case on age grounds.

But this administrative blunder by the TV Licensing Authority is an extremely unfunny foul-up - when its upshot was that 90-year-olds were shaking and ill with fear that they were liable for a £1,000 fine.

Indeed, one was so frightened that she dare not even turn on her television.

But while the licensing authority has a duty and responsibility to crack down on evasion and to root out and harry the dodgers, it has also an obligation to get its act right.

And its failure to do so in this case, not only warrants an explanation, but also an apology to the old folk living in sheltered accommodation who were so needlessly upset.

But if nothing else, this incident highlights the absurd selectivity and complexity of the TV licensing law as it applies to pensioners under 75 and living in sheltered accommodation where concessions are granted to some, but by no means all, residents.

It is a muddle that readily lends itself to innocent old folk being wrongly targeted and frightened by the licensing authority's anti-avoidance tactics. But if it behoves the authority to take greater care, does the situation not beg a much simpler and straightforward straightforward solution - that of scrapping the licence fee not just for over-75s, but for all pensioners?

As is shown by the continuing political fall-out over how far pensioners' incomes have fallen behind those of wage-earners, it is evident that the licence fee, now at more than £100 a year, is a considerable burden for many elderly people and extra harsh in that, as many are confined to their homes, they are more dependent on TV for pleasure and 'company' even than other groups.

At a stroke, all the unfairness, hardship and confusion of the licence rules for the elderly would be done away with by free TV for old folk. And it is high time the government switched it on.