I was caught in Central London while using my friend's photocard

[spotify95]

I was caught using someone else student oyster and I was persecuted under these acts
Is this criminal conviction or just fine?

By the looks of it, you have a criminal conviction, since you have been prosecuted by TfL for misuse of a non transferable pass.

Hopefully you've already paid the circa £350 that was required by July this year, otherwise that will incur further costs.

It should be noted that you should have already received court paperwork telling you that you were going to be prosecuted, as well as a verification letter prior to this. Also, TfL take this sort of thing very seriously, and as you found out, a prosecution is normal for pass mis-use.

 

[AlterEgo]

I was caught using someone else student oyster and I was persecuted under these acts
Is this criminal conviction or just fine?

It's both. You have been convicted of a criminal offence and your punishment is that thr magistrates court fined you.

 

[Jawad munir]

Yeah I have already paid £350
It's not showing on my basic DBS check that's why I just wanted to know it's criminal offence or just the financial penalty

 

[jfollows]

There are other posts here which say that these convictions don’t show up on a basic check, just on an enhanced one. But if you’re asked an open question about having a criminal record, then you do.

See https://www.railforums.co.uk/threads/freedom-pass-misuse.295578/#post-7572778, for example

They may, but only if you have an Enhanced DBS, and even then it is not likely to be disclosed unless the disclosing officer believes the conviction is relevant to the role being applied for. You should get detailed advice from Unlock, a charity which can help with more specific questions.

 

[pedr]

Some minor offences do not show on Basic DBS checks. This does not mean that they’re not criminal convictions, however.

If someone asks whether your basic DBS is clear you can say it is, but if they ask if you have been convicted of any offences and those are not spent under the terms of the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act then you have to disclose this conviction until one year after the date of conviction.

You have to disclose it to anyone asking who isn’t restricted by the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act even after a year, such as professional regulators, but they will often take quite a pragmatic view of minor offences.

 

[Jawad munir]

I am going to apply for my PhD admission that's why I'm asking as I should mention my conviction in application

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 11 Dec 2025 ==

If I have to get my police character certificate
Will that conviction showed up there?

 

[jfollows]

Look up the policy of the university to which you are applying, for example https://greatermanchester.ac.uk/join-us/how-to-apply-and-admissions/criminal-conviction-disclosure, and follow that.

 

[AlterEgo]

I am going to apply for my PhD admission that's why I'm asking as I should mention my conviction in application

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 11 Dec 2025 ==

If I have to get my police character certificate
Will that conviction showed up there?

Whether the university can find out from the police or from the DBS check is not relevant. What matters is your legal obligation to disclose. You should check your university policy. Your conviction will be at present, unspent, meaning you will almost certainly have to declare it.

It will become spent after one year from the date of conviction at which point you will not have to disclose it to anyone - and indeed shouldn't - unless you apply for a role not covered by the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act.

 

[Haywain]

If I have to get my police character certificate
Will that conviction showed up there?

If it shows up and you haven't declared it already that will look worse than if you have declared it yourself.

 

[Iggy12a]

If I have to get my police character certificate
Will that conviction showed up there?

There is no such thing in the UK as a police character certificate.

 

[AlterEgo]

There is no such thing in the UK as a police character certificate.

He means a police certificate which is certainly a thing.

 

[Hadders]

If this is a Byelaw conviction, they aren't normally recorded on the Police National Computer so don't normally show on DBS checks. That said, a Byelaw conviction is a criminal conviction and is a matter of public record. Organisations do have other ways of finding out if you have been convicted of an offence. It's always best to be honest if you are asked if you have a conviction but I wouldn't expect a conviction for a minor railway ticketing issue to adversely impact career prospects as long as you disclose it when required to do so.

 

[Mojo]

Reading the letter which details his conviction, it would appear that the offence occurred on a stage carriage (bus) as opposed to the railway. In many regards this could be argued as fortunate for the OP as it seems it doesn't come with the background digging that they often do in terms of trying to find other illicit use of the pass.

 

[chrisjo]

it would appear that the offence occurred on a stage carriage (bus) as opposed to the railway.

Also from reading the first post in this thread...

I was traveling on a bus in Central London when I was caught

 

[Haywain]

In many regards this could be argued as fortunate for the OP as it seems it doesn't come with the background digging that they often do in terms of trying to find other illicit use of the pass.

Not that fortunate as it's the same TfL who prosecute for offences on their rail network, and don't settle out of court. In this case they probably couldn't identify the previous use sufficiently to add to the prosecution.

 

[ChilliSauce]

Not that fortunate as it's the same TfL who prosecute for offences on their rail network, and don'tsettleout of court. In this case they probably couldn't identify the previous use sufficiently to add to the prosecution.

My thoughts .. it would require TfL to look at past usage and then for every bus where a touch in was recorded to examine the CCTV data to try and identify who actually touched in with the pass. The amount of effort to do that most likely outweighs the benefit ...given they have sufficient evidence to go a single use prosecution. Unless the TfL plan is to turn up at the court on the day claiming additional evidence of misuse has now been discovered and so trying to force the defendant to ask for "X" number of similar offences to be taken into consideration.

 

[30907]

Not that fortunate as it's the same TfL who prosecute for offences on their rail network, and don't settle out of court. In this case they probably couldn't identify the previous use sufficiently to add to the prosecution.

My impression is that TfL typically prosecute for a single Byelaw offence even where there is misuse of a Pass.

 

[Haywain]

My impression is that TfL typically prosecute for a single Byelaw offence even where there is misuse of a Pass.

Yes, and if there is a trail of misuse they will ask for other offences to be taken into consideration.

 

[island]

There is no such thing in the UK as a police character certificate.

There certainly is. It's issued by ACRO and is a requirement for visa applications to a number of countries.