Why was CB radio illegal in the UK?

Question

I was reading Wikipedia about the awful trucker film "Convoy" and it mentioned that the popularity of the film led to widespread CB adoption in the UK, and because of that, CB radios were legalised.

It would never occur to me that something so fundamental to wireless communication would be illegal, but then again, this a country where people walk around with antennae trying to determine if people have unlicenced TVs.

Does anyone know why CBs were illegal, and also what and was the status of ham/shortwave radio at the time compared to the regulations require to operate that equipment?

Answer 1

As I recall, the early AM sets caused a lot of interference in all sorts of ways, so rules were hurriedly brought in to regulate CB, including the permitted power.  And, of course, the Government spotted an opportunity to levy another tax by way of a licence fee. Now that CB has lost it's popularity as far as I know they've given up on that idea, presumably because it has become more costly to collect than it's worth!

Answer 2

BBC controls radio in order to silence any non-state-owned media that could threaten their validity as a news source and in turn their propaganda distribution. The goal of this was suppressing pirate radio transmissions. Use of CB could have opened up possible modifications that in turn would allow easier access to broadcasting on various frequencies. Ham radios could easily be used to communicate in a semi-private fashion away from listening ears.