Freedom Of Information requests can bring some light into the darkest and inner most secrets of the state institution and Government.

However, some information remains secret and that includes information about BBC TV licence detector vans and how they work.

The Information Commissioner, which oversees the FOIs, like a watchdog, became embroiled in the issue when the BBC declined to answer it fully.

The BBC declined to answer due to any effect it might have on the public perception of the effectiveness of the detector vans.

And, in the end, in 2008, the IFO upheld the decision by the BBC.

The BBC spends a little less than five per cent of the licence payers’ fee on licence enforcement under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act.

In the 1960s the BBC detector van used to strike fear into people when it was about.

The BBC carried “adverts” reminding viewers that the vans were in their area. And, in the Cold War era, these adverts were treated by many people like something provided by Big Brother from George Orwell’s 1984.

They also led to many myths and tales of people who knew how to beat the system or how to use it if you lived in a block of flats.

As children, when the detector van came into our street we would run around telling everybody.

It generated a lot of excitement, especially if the van stopped and its occupants knocked on someone’s door and went inside.

The local papers always carried news in those days of those people who had been fined for not having a TV licence, which was classed as a public outrage, despite it being the early years of the anything goes permissive society.

How odd it looks today to see photos of the vans usually accompanied by crowds of bemused children and anxious adults. The fear factor may have worked more in the 1960s than it would now.

Today, keeping track of who does or does not have a TV licence is mostly done by computers and meticulous record checking – as the population is more mobile today than in the 1960s.

Also many people now watch TV on computers and other hand- held devices.

Despite the huge number of TV licences held today the BBC receives very few complaints from people about the fee.

Has anyone seen a detector van in their street lately?

Have you got your licence handy in case there is a knock at the door?