BOLTON is one of the worst towns in the North West for TV licence dodgers.

According to a new league of shame, the town is now the 27th worst place in the whole of Britain.

But TV licence officers have promised that those not paying up will be caught.

A van with a crew of six is currently touring Bolton's streets every day and homes without a TV licence can be detected by a simple hand-held device.

John Barber, TV licence spokesman, said: "There is literally no escape. These devices can even work on high rise flats."

The first ever licence dodgers league of shame was released last year.

Risen

Then Bolton were 42nd. But now the town has risen 15 positions and is only behind Manchester, Liverpool and Chester in the North West region.

Mr Barber said that special attention may now be given to the town.

He added: "We don't know why it has happened but Bolton people do seem to have lapsed a little bit in paying for their licence. Some people do genuinely forget, for example when they are moving house, but there are so many ways to pay now.

"We have a database of 26 million addresses around the country and the technology we are using to catch licence dodgers is better than ever. If people don't pay they will get caught."

The figures show that almost 2,000 people were caught without a TV licence in the Bolton area between October 1999 and March 200.

In the previous six months, just 1,362 had been caught.

However - despite the steep rise - Bolton has a long way to go to match Glasgow, which topped the league of shame, closely followed by Birmingham, London and Newcastle.

Manchester was the sixth worst place in the country.

The cost of a TV licence is £101 and anyone caught without one faces a court fine of up to £1,000.

Mr Barber added: 'It just does not make economical sense for someone not to have a licence. Even for those hard up we can work out a way of paying which will suit them."