Detect the Detector vans Should you be lucky enough to spot a TV detector van, please undertake the following: i) take a couple of photographs (keep a camera handy in the glove compartment of the car); ii) take a note of the van's registration number; iii) take down the make and model of the van, and any other distinct or identifying features, such as logos; iv) do NOT engage the driver in conversation; do NOT let the van's tyres down v) look up the van's registration number on Car Data Checks to make sure that the vehicle's recorded details correspond with what you have seen vi) email the number plate (and photo if you have one) to me for inclusion on this page at: bbctvlicence AT hotmail DOT com vii) report the sighting on the BBC Resistance website's interactive TVL Detector tool Detector vans spotted to date 1) Registration number E052VGK This was seen in August 2006 near Skipton, North Yorkshire, at the Bolton Abbey Steam Railway. The details from Car Data Checks showed that it was a white Ford Transit minibus, registered in November 2002 with no previous keepers. A photo was taken: 2) Registration number Y889BOA Seen twice in Wigan; first in November 2006, then in April 2007. The locations were a shopping precinct car park, and an out-of-town retail park . There were ten-inch aerials on either side of the van. Car Data Checks shows that this is a white diesel minibus, registered in August 2001. The manufacturer is LDV and the model 400 CONVOY D LWB. 3) Registration number LT03TYV This van was spotted in April 2007 at a supermarket car park in the Midlands. It was a white minibus-type vehicle with windows, with 'Detection Unit' on the side. The rear half of the vehicle had drawn curtains. Vehicle details: white Volkswagen 1200 panel van, registered in March 2003, one previous keeper. Update, August 2007: this photograph appeared on the website of the Northampton Chronicle and Echo. The number plate, while blurred, can be seen to begin with L and end with V, so would appear to be van LT03TYV. Y889BOA and LT03TYV are not the first detector vans to be seen in supermarket car parks; supermarkets appear to be popular locations for detector vans, presumably because it makes them visible to a large number of people. Such deployment supports the notion that detector vans are dummy vans, designed to have a psychological effect rather than actually detect televisions, since what televisions are to be found in supermarket car parks? 4) Registration number Y254CGO December 2007: another "detector van" caught loitering in a car park. A white Volkswagen 1200 panel van, registered in July 2001. The image is taken from this thread at BBC Resistance. 5) Registration number GK57TXL May 2008: seen in Queens Road, Peckham, London. According to Car Data Checks, it is a white Ford Transit 110 diesel van with side windows. August 2008: GK57TXL has been spotted again, in the Coventry area, and a photograph taken; for more photos and details, visit http://www.tvlicensing.biz/wpblog/?m=200808 6) Registration number LL57HLS May 2008: seen in Barlby, North Yorkshire. Car Data Checks is unable to identify this number plate, so it may have been taken down wrongly. 7) Registration number BC03CRZ May 2009: seen in North East England. Car Data Checks confirms as a Volkswagen 1200 panel, colour white. 8) Registration number GK57TXW Not to be confused with GK57TXL above, GK57TXW was spotted in Charnock Richard services car park, on the M6, Lancashire, in August 2010. Originally reported at BBC Resistance, see more photos linked from here. Note also the blue-white paper in the windscreen; this is a disabled badge. The van was parked in the disabled bay. Is the driver, just visible in the photo, genuinely disabled, or was the BBC involved in a fraudulent misuse of the badge? Update: following an enquiry from a member of the public, TVL/BBC responded: "A disabled member of staff was operating the detector van in question and the badge in the window is genuine. Please remove from the public domain any inference to the contrary. Yours sincerely, Owen Shirley, Customer Relations, TV Licensing" (September 2010) So, the driver was disabled. But that does not get TVL/BBC off the hook, since the parking bay belongs to a private business who provide it for customers, not the posturing of a TVL/BBC van. The BBC could have deprived a genuine consumer of using the bay. Oct 2007: A reader of this site reports seeing a detector van, a "very shiny half minibus affair" with logos, at an industrial estate on Station Road in Tufnell Park, north London. Although the reader did not get the licence plate, this particular industrial estate includes a company called BT Fleet which performs maintainance and repair on commercial vehicle fleets such as Group 4 Securicor vans, AA breakdown trucks and police cars. It is possible that TVL/BBC vans get their mechanical servicing there. Readers who live near Tufnell Park or any other BT Fleet garage may wish to keep a careful eye on vehicles entering and exiting these locations. For more information on BT Fleet and its garages, visit their website here. Eight vans to date ... Please click here to indicate the usefulness of this site