I apologise in advance for this being so long.
Yesterday I had to catch a metro train to Newcastle, and then a train from Newcastle station. I was running late and knew that if I missed the next metro, I would miss the train that I had to catch. I arrived at the metro station just as the train was about to leave, so I ran and jumped on it, under the impression that I would be able to buy a ticket from one of the ticket inspectors I had previously seen on the trains. As I have only used the metro a handful of times in the past, I was unaware that this was not the case and that I had to purchase the ticket BEFORE boarding the train. I was issued with a Penalty Fare Notice, and paid the £20 fine to IRCAS online as soon as I could. I am aware that Fixed Penalty Notices will show up on an enhanced CRB check, but I do not know whether the Penalty Fare Notice falls under this category/would show up. I ask because I am applying to medical school this year and have to send off my UCAS form, and for the course I have to declare whether anything would show up on an enhanced CRB check.
From the UCAS website:
"This course has entry requirements which may require you to disclose further information regarding any spent or unspent convictions or any past criminal activities, and may also require a criminal records check.
Further checks may also be required under the ISA vetting and barring scheme if this course requires regular contact with children or vulnerable adults.
If you have spent or unspent convictions from a court outside Great Britain, additional checks may be carried out depending on the records available in respect of the applicable country.
A criminal records check may show all spent and unspent criminal convictions including (but not limited to) cautions, reprimands, final warnings, bind over orders or similar and, to the extent relevant to this course, may also show details of any minor offences, fixed penalty notices, penalty notices for disorder, ASBOs or VOOs.
Please tick if you have any spent or unspent convictions or other punishments that would show up on a criminal records check."
Obviously I do not want to tick the box if this isn’t going to show up, as my record is otherwise clean, but equally I don’t want to not tick it and find out it did show up, as this would be seen as dishonest.
Has anyone applied to UCAS for a course requiring a criminal background check after recieving a Penalty Fare Notice from IRCAS/similar? If so, did you declare it/did it show up when your record was checked?
If you haven’t applied to UCAS, but have had an enhanced CRB after recieving a Penalty Fare Notice, did it show up?
Also, is a Penalty Fare Notice different from a Fixed Penalty Notice? I know that FPNs are no longer just for motoring offences.
Thank you for any help, I am losing sleep over this!
The information for CRB checks comes from information held on you by the police. As the police did not get involved with this at any stage, they will not know about it and therefore there’s no way that they could disclose it. You’re 100% safe – don’t worry.