?criminal record

[glory]

My son was fined in the magistrates court for not swiping his oyster card. He was not informed that he now has a criminal record. Does he have one? if so how long will he have to declare it? Do the courts confirm the criminal record in writing?

[New Judge]

If he was fined in a magistrates' court he does have a criminal record. A conviction automatically confers that.

The record remains with him for life but for offences where a fine was imposed the conviction becomes "spent" after five years (or two and a half years if he was 17 or under at the time of conviction).

Records are not confirmed in writing by the courts. If he was present when fined he would have been expected to have noted the details. If he was convicted in his absence the notification of the fine is all he will receive.

[fletcher.5]

Welcome to Orwells 1984

[Annlinda]

If he did not receive a summons thereby being ignorant of the fact that a case against him was due in court he can go to the court and swear a statutory declaration in front of the bench that he was unaware of proceedings against him until the fine arrived. The bench then have the power to quash conviction and re-open the case. However this does not mean that he will get off the conviction but it does give him the chance to defend himself.