Criminal Record Information

Why you may receive a criminal record

Depending on the offence you are being prosecuted for:
If you plead guilty you WILL receive a criminal record.
If successfully prosecuted by TFL you WILL receive a criminal record.

This is why I always advise people to plead NOT guilty. Some people think that if they admit everything and apologise profusely then TFL will somehow forgive then and decide to let them off.

This is not the case, let me tell you something, TFL couldn't care less about your apologises or cooperation. In fact if you apologise they are more likely to prosecute you as they now have even stronger evidence that you committed a crime.

TFL do not care about how much money you offer them to settle out of court. One person I worked with offered to pay £1000 which is double what TFL would usually get if they take someone to court and yet TFL still tried to prosecute him.

How long does the criminal record last?

A criminal record given by TFL will last 5 years before it becomes 'Spent'. This means that after 5 years the record will not show up when you apply for normal jobs like working in a supermarket. However, even after the conviction is 'Spent' it will still show up if you apply to job where you are working with vulnerable people, such as teaching, nursing and caring. This is because these sort of jobs require an 'Advanced CBS' check where spent convictions will show up, whereas normal CBS check will not reveal any 'Spent convictions'

Legislative changes have been made so that minor conviction such as a TFL 'fare dodging' one now has the chance to be removed for good, however it takes 11 years.


An adult conviction will be taken off your record after 11 years, if you have not gotten into any more trouble since the conviction, it was your only offence and it did not involve you going to prison. If you have more then one offence then all you convictions will remain permanent.