Fare Evasion - Conviction?? help please.

[jimmyc172]

OK, I will try to keep this as brief as possible. i'm just looking for some answers, hopefully someone can help.

In Nov 2010 I didn't have a ticket after a journey I had been on (Bolton to Manchester), due to it being a journey i had never done before i got mixed up with the station i got on at the Bolton end (wasn't a main one) and i told the conductor (in Manchester) the incorrect station which he confirmed a couple of times before informing me that he believes i was avoiding the fare and he took my details.

Anyway a couple of weeks later i received a letter stating i can either go to court or plead guilty and pay a fine, i chose the fine as i didn't want to go to court so another couple of weeks later i received the fine details (about £200 in total) so i paid it.

I thought this was the end of it and not once was i informed that this is classed as a conviction. I thought that due me admitting being fault (even though it was a genuine mistake) i would pay the fine and that be it.

Roll on 2.5 years (April 2012) and my current job have completed a CRB check and this has showed up and they were annoyed that i hadn't declared this as i had been asked about convictions in the application form which i ticked no as i wasn't informed of any. Luckily i have kept my job but it is a temporary contract therefore i am actively looking for other jobs.

So I just wanted to know is there anything I can do about this, obviously due to the time since the conviction it is unlikely i can appeal but i would have went to court and defended myself if i knew I would get a conviction. I also feel that for such a trivial thing - 5 years on record is steep (compared to other convictions like being in prison for up to 6 months has only a 3.5 year rehabilitation period).

I definitely cannot remember being told i now have a conviction as I definitely would have looked into it back.

Does anyone know how potential employers look at this conviction?
I am going to write a letter to the CRB office to voice my anger at the process they have and the way how a small conviction can effectively ruin someone's life and how it wasn't explained clearly when i received the first letter from them. unfortunately i threw away all correspondence from them so hopefully they will have copies.

Any information would be greatly appreciated, Thanks

 

[DaveNewcastle]

If you propose writing to the CRB office (now called the Disclosure & Barring Service, in Liverpool), then I do not believe that they will hold any copies of your correspondence with the Railway Company or with the Court. They will simply have access to the entries in a database.

The system is changing at the present, and future employers should only receive notification of entries in the database that are "relevant" to the position applied for.

As you are probably now aware, the letter which you used to plea 'Guilty' and to accept the Fine was a letter to the Court, and that is exactly what they would have done: make an entry in the Court records that you were 'Guilty' of the offence which was detailled in the letter - I'm guessing that you didn't read it as carefully as you could have done at the time. I'll also guess that it was a conviction under the Regulation of Railways Act for travelling without having paid the fare and with intent to avoid payment.

Sadly, the damage is done, though the conviction will become 'spent' soon.
It's always worth telling employers about any convictions, rather than having to explain why you didn't if they later discover that you have. If you honestly believe that the conviction was for a very minor matter, then the employer might well agree with you. And in future, the DBS disclosure procedures will agree too, and not include minor convictions which are irrelevant to the position applied for.

 

[reb0118]

The way I am reading this, by inferring between the lines, is that the OP has confused a letter from a rail company offering an administrative penalty to settle out of court ~ hence no conviction & no record with what was in fact a letter from a court asking the the OP how he wanted to plead in a criminal matter.

In my opinion it seemed very quick to go straight to court unless the rail company had a very strong case? Can you remember if it was a byelaw offence or the more serious Regulation of Railways Act. See the fares & ticketing guide here for more info. You may have to make a few more posts to access it?

As Dave, above, has stated it is probably far too late to alter the scenario.

Can the legal eagles on the forum confirm that the RoRA is classed as a crime of dishonesty ~ most employers would regard this as relevant when performing background checks on prospective employees.

 

[island]

I am not aware of the law of England and Wales containing a definition of a "crime of dishonesty". [Perhaps reb0118 has called to mind the American term "crime involving moral turpitude" which does have a specific definition and deals with ineligibility to be admitted to the USA.]

Under the current situation (which, as mentioned above, is soon to change), a DBS check reveals all live convictions, and it is for an employer to decide, given the data, whether or not to employ someone. My understanding is that some employers will consider failure (even though unwitting) to declare a conviction as a more serious matter than the conviction itself. Luckily, on this occasion, it has not made a difference, but it is incumbent on you to declare the conviction when asked until it becomes spent.

If the offence in question has shown up on such a check it is almost certainly a Regulation of Railways Act offence (and on the limited information given it appears you are guilty of same).

As for the question of the time until it becomes spent, I think you may have gotten muddled. A prison sentence of under 6 months becomes spent after 7 years. A fine becomes spent after 5. Both of these are reduced by 50% if the offender was a minor at the time of conviction. If that was true in your case, your conviction will be spent after 2.5 years, which time period is just about to expire. Otherwise, you have some time to go.

Writing to the DBS will, unfortunately, not accomplish anything. Neither it nor anybody else (short of a solicitor employed by you) has an obligation to hold your hand through the criminal proceedings and explain the consequences of each action you take.

 

[DaveNewcastle]

Can the legal eagles on the forum confirm that the RoRA is classed as a crime of dishonesty ~ most employers would regard this as relevant when performing background checks on prospective employees.

A Section 5 RoRA prosecution, "with intent to avoid payment" probably would do, though the guidance on this is imprecise.

I am not aware of the law of England and Wales containing a definition of a "crime of dishonesty".

What?
Criminal Dishonesty has been defined in Twinsectra, Bultitude, Ghosh and others. It embraces frauds, theft, tax evasion, etc. Try "Someone acting in a way that they know to be deceitful or saying things that they know to be untrue".

I want to suggest that jimmyc172 has a look at this guidance from NACRO : Applying for Work. It will feel uncomfortable to be told to read a document which is intended to assist convicts, when the OP wouldn't have believed that they had been convicted, but I think the advice might be appropriate.
As for any anger at the situation, I suggest that it could be directed at the local MP (or AM or MSP).

 

[michael769]

One must consider that the term can be used in two contexts. The first is the legal one, that Dave has already covered.

The other is in the mind of those who might read a criminal record check. That is the context in which I usually use the term. In that context it is any offence that might suggest that the person committing it is less than honest, especially where money is concerned.

Such a person is liable to be assesed are more likely to commit frauds (and thus face higher insurance premiums to cover the percieved risk of fraud), or to steal (employers might be reluctant to offer such a person a job involving unsupervised cash handling).

Perhaps unsurprisingly the well off "city bloke" who is willing to fare dodge, is also the kind of person who likely to be willing to inflate his insurance claims by a few thousand if he thinks he can also get away with that!

 

[jimmyc172]

Thanks for the advice everyone. I will be disclosing to future employers as its better i tell them than they find out from a CRB check.

I suppose there's not much more I can do about apart from see out the final 2.5 years until it is 'spent'