Help with TFL and Bylaw 17

[StaceyD]

Hello,

Please, may I ask for some help as I am really confused. The Case is as follows:

Two years ago I was stopped at one of the London tube station without a valid ticket. After a few letters and conversations with TFL they refused to settle out of court and send me a request to attend court. It was under: Byelaw 17(1) of Transport for London Railway Byelaw Made under paragraph 26 of Schedule 11 of the Greater London Authority Act 1999 and confirmed under section 67 of the Transport Act 1962. I had to plead guilty and the only thing I received from the court (or TFL) was a 'Notice of Fine' that I had to pay.
I tried to contact the court for some more information but they said that is all they have. My confusion is the following: do I actually have a criminal conviction or not? If I was to apply for a job where an Enhanced DBS is required, is there going to be any record on it?
If anyone else has gone through the same situation already, can you please advise and share?

 

[Fawkes Cat]

Welcome to the forum

Yes, you do have a criminal conviction. But there's some confusion (both in this forum, and, I think, also with the courts and police) about the status of byelaw convictions.

One view is that under the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (RoOA) a byelaw offence is immediately spent and so should not be reported to DBS - and since DBS never find out about it, it will not be included in a DBS check.

Another view is that RoOA is not quite so lenient and so the conviction will be reported to DBS, and so could end up on a DBS check.

A third, rather more pragmatic, view is that whether byelaw offences should be reported to DBS, on occasion they are, and when that happens they do end up on DBS reports.

So the practical approach for you to take is probably to assume that the DBS report will come back showing your conviction.

But from what people have told us here, you probably shouldn't worry. There are very few jobs indeed where a conviction for fare-dodging will actually stop you being employed. If your potential employer says that job applicants should be aware that an enhanced DBS check will be carried out, then that's what they mean - that there will be a check, but not necessarily that the check not coming back clean will stop you getting the job.

What employers are generally looking for with an enhanced DBS is that you are trustworthy. A single conviction for fare-dodging doesn't show that you're not trustworthy, but that you once made a mistake. But there are a couple of things that could escalate this into a problem:
- a whole series of convictions for fare dodging: that would say to an employer that you really didn't learn your lesson the first time you were caught;
- not coming out with the information about your conviction before the employer found out about it through the DBS check. That would say to the employer that you were trying to hide the conviction - and that's not honest. Employers don't like employees who they think aren't honest.

Someone with more knowledge should be along shortly to explain what rights RoOA gives not to mention a spent conviction. But if you are concerned that even a spent conviction would limit your chances of getting a job, my suggestion would be to volunteer the information. That tells the employer that while you're not proud of having been caught fare-dodging, you want to be fully open with the employer and you have nothing to hide - which if you think about it, is a pretty good message to give them.

 

[Tazi Hupefi]

It's not a view, it's fact.

I say this as someone not particularly au fait with the technicalities of railway ticketing, law etc, but the situation is without a doubt this, as far as recordable/non recordable offences go:

1) Byelaw offences under secondary legislation (e.g. TfL, National Rail etc) - Not Recordable. Optionally discloseable (if relevant) on an Enhanced CRB (DBS) check - if a Chief Officer of Police feels it is particularly relevant to the role/position the check is being made for. It is unlikely that a Chief Officer of Police would disclose the Byelaw offence, unless there was some other intelligence or a conflict with the role you applied for, that made it relevant.

2) Regulation of Railway Act 1889 - all recordable and WILL appear on both a standard and enhanced CRB/DBS check for the statutory period of time.

Byelaws CAN be recorded on PNC (Police National Computer), including conviction outcome, sentence etc. Theoretically, any train operator bringing a prosecution now needs an ASN "Arrest Summons Number", which is what creates the PNC record. It (theoretically) should not be possible to commence a prosecution without an ASN, although in some cases it does happen, (certainly outside of the rail industry).

Regulation of Railways Act WILL be recorded on PNC.

This is managed by ACRO.

Record creation
When bringing a prosecution, agencies can ask ACRO to create a record on the PNC on their behalf.

As part of this process, ACRO provides the agency with an arrest summons number (ASN), which is required to bring a defendant to court, and the relevant PNC prints to meet the requirements of the criminal justice system.

As well as creating the record, ACRO manages it and keeps it updated from the start to the finish of the prosecution process, ensuring information is recorded in a consistent and timely way.

ACRO Criminal Records Office - PNC services

.
Other services available to non-police agencies

• Updating PNC records with current information
• Converting historical records held on microfiche and adding them to the PNC
• Circulating warrants when a subject is wanted
• Conducting overseas conviction checks

And in answer to the OP question - it does indeed sound like you have been convicted, although convicted of a Byelaw offence. This is still a criminal conviction. It sounds also like you pleaded guilty to that offence and received a fine, which you presumably paid.

So, it will not appear on a Standard DBS (CRB) check, but it may appear on the Police National Computer, (e.g. if the police ever stop you/check you out).

It will not appear on an Enhanced DBS check, UNLESS there is some other fairly significant factor in your background, history or role you are applying for which makes it relevant enough to disclose it to your potential employer.

 

[island]

Whilst I agree that what you have described above is how the process should work, three things if I may:

1. If one were to be convicted of a recordable offence and a non-recordable offence at the same time, both offences would be recorded
2. It is not unknown (and came up on this forum quite some time ago) for a court clerk to incorrectly key a criminal record for a non-recordable offence
3. It is not correct to say that a record for non-recordable offence is “spent straight away”, it just doesn’t exist.

To the OP, as the matter was dealt with by a fine and all this happened over a year ago, any possible criminal record incorrectly created will now be spent, and the conviction certainly need not be mentioned unless you are applying for a role for which a standard or enhanced DBS check is required. In the case of a standard check, it is extremely unlikely to come back on your record, and in the case of an enhanced check it is still unlikely – but if you are asked whether you have ever been convicted of an offence by someone entitled to ask an exempted question, it is my opinion that you should disclose the matter.

As Fawkes Cat correctly mentions, a prospective employer is considerably less likely to be sympathetic to a candidate when they find out about a conviction other than from the candidate.

 

[Tazi Hupefi]

"It is not unknown (and came up on this forum quite some time ago) for a court clerk to incorrectly key a criminal record for a non-recordable offence"

It should be unknown as it's simply not possible because the court clerk has nothing to do with criminal records.

Third party prosecutors (e.g. rail companies) request an ASN (Arrest Summons Number) from ACRO to commence a prosecution. This then goes on to PNC, regardless of Byelaw or Regulation of Railway, and regardless of guilt/innocence. That record will remain on the police national computer often for a lifetime or at least a very long (10+ years).

When the court finds guilt or receives a guilty plea - the Court Clerk (or usually the Mags Legal Advisor) simply adds the outcome to a court system that includes the sentence (or Not Guilty finding). This is linked to the ASN. That then updates the PNC record with the outcome.

When the Disclosure and Barring Service run their checks, the Byelaw conviction should appear, but would be suitably filtered away.

If a Byelaw offence has appeared inadvertently, it will be a problem at either ACRO (or it's predecessor agency) or an issue with DBS not filtering properly, although this should be automated.

 

[island]

I’m not going to enter into an argument with you. Mistakes have happened in the past, whether they should have or not.

 

[SussexMan]

The other point to add though is that your employer does not get a copy of the DBS result. When you apply for a DBS the result is sent to you and your employer is told whether there you have any convictions or not. If you don't then that's all that is needed. If they are told that you do, then they ask to see a copy of the DBS. If a non-recordable result is shown then you can resolve that with the DBS and advise your employer that an error has been made. Provided the conviction shouldn't be on the check then it will be removed and you can show the employer your clear result. The only problem you'll have is the time that takes.