boyfriday Posted October 8, 2013 Share Posted October 8, 2013 I've endured a sleepless night due to my partner mentioning something before bedtime that had me in hot sweats and hyperventilating (no it wasn't performance anxiety for a change), she mentioned the dreaded TVD word(s). Long consigned to the distant corners of my feeble mind, a stark monochrome vision of a Ford Commer patrolling my road on a Saturday evening, this sinister windowless vehicle complete with radar antennae would creep about knowing every movement (bowel and otherwise) of me and my neighbours. I always regretted premature disposal of my crumpled copies of Health & Efficiency after the van had driven past. Word would soon spread (handy when everyone had a shared party line) and along with the rest of my family we'd be diving behind the settee after turning off all the lights in the house and electrical appliances. Often it was too late for others and through twitching curtains you could see some string vested, half shaven chap being escorted away by the men in white coats..never to be seen again. The power of this fear can only be fully appreciated when you realise our license was always bought and paid for! Years later we discovered that apart from the glitzy exterior these vans were without substance, a bit like Amstrad computers. For those of you too young to remember why your parents would inexplicably turn the telly off during Summertime Special, here's one of the adverts produced by the government House of Propaganda. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alchresearch Posted October 8, 2013 Share Posted October 8, 2013 There was an article about them in the DM on Saturday: Are TV detector vans just a cunning con trick? For decades it's been claimed they trap licence cheats. In fact, they've never led to a single prosecution http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2445153/Are-TV-detector-vans-just-cunning-trick-For-decades-claimed-trap-licence-cheats-In-fact-theyve-led-single-prosecution.html Despite the source, it does raise some interesting questions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geared Posted October 8, 2013 Share Posted October 8, 2013 I thought the type of TV the vans were able to detect phased out a long time ago. Certainly today they'd not have a hope in hell of 'detecting' a TV. The best bet would be to drive around and look in through windows Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adamf Posted October 8, 2013 Share Posted October 8, 2013 I thought the type of TV the vans were able to detect phased out a long time ago. Certainly today they'd not have a hope in hell of 'detecting' a TV. The best bet would be to drive around and look in through windows That's probably what they do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shogun Posted October 8, 2013 Share Posted October 8, 2013 I run a small aerial and satellite fitting business,a few years ago we were working fitting satellites for sky we were fitting the new dishes for them when they changed from analog to digital,we were taking the big old dishes down and replacing them with the mini dishes they have now.one day the van was full of junk so I decided to chuck and tie on an old big white dish on the roof of the van,we were on a bit of a ruff estate in Barnsley one day busy working when someone shouted out the bloody detector vans here,you should have seen the people running about there were curtains twitching doors slamming and all sorts going off,they must have thought our van was the detector van with a big white dish on the top.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boyfriday Posted October 8, 2013 Author Share Posted October 8, 2013 I run a small aerial and satellite fitting business,a few years ago we were working fitting satellites for sky we were fitting the new dishes for them when they changed from analog to digital,we were taking the big old dishes down and replacing them with the mini dishes they have now.one day the van was full of junk so I decided to chuck and tie on an old big white dish on the roof of the van,we were on a bit of a ruff estate in Barnsley one day busy working when someone shouted out the bloody detector vans here,you should have seen the people running about there were curtains twitching doors slamming and all sorts going off,they must have thought our van was the detector van with a big white dish on the top.. Do TV signals even reach Barnsley? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shogun Posted October 8, 2013 Share Posted October 8, 2013 Do TV signals even reach Barnsley? Yes they get a full strength signal there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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