Parking Fine

[nadine12]

I received a fixed penalty notice of �30 for parking on double yellow lines recently however I did not respond to the notice within the required 28 days. Stupid I know but I have had two bereavements in the family recently and my mind was else where. It was therefore enforced in the magistrates court as a fine which is now �45 which I will be paying tomorrow. I am panicking now though as I am a probation officer and I am worried this will mean I now have a criminal record!! Do these appear on CRB checks? I thought I read some where that if you pay in 28 days it will be removed from the register of fines but I'm not sure.

[thebrainy123]

yes i hope you lose your job you filthy fine doging plonker! �30.00 tut tut

[NORMANTHEDOG]

parking fines do not make you a criminal and do not qualify as a criminal conviction,so you have no record.

[nadine12]

brainy 123 if you can't say anything constructive why comment have you nothing better to do with your time? If you read the post you will see that two of my family members died recently. That is why I was not thinking about a parking fine, which I might add was for parking outside my own front door. In a house which had NO yellow lines outside when we bought it. So cheers for the sarcasm, very helpful.
Norman the dog, is this still the case if it has been enforced in the magistrates' court?

[Buenchico]

The CRB doesn't record offences which are dealt with by fixed penalties (but they could still show upon an enhanced CRB check if the police, or another outside agency, deemed them to be relevant).

However, all convictions before a court are recorded so (in the strictest sense) you will have a criminal record. But there's no reason why such a minor offence should have any adverse effect on a probation officer's career. (Even so, your contract probably requires you to declare the conviction to your employer). As any probation officer should know, over a third of all men (and plenty of women as well) acquire a criminal record before the age of 30. Plenty of them are working within the probation service.

Chris

PS: You seem to have been particularly unlucky. In most parts of the country, local authorities have taken over control of parking matters. In these areas, parking has been 'decriminalised' so that a parking 'contravention' (which is no longer a criminal 'offence') results in a civil debt, rather than a fine.

[nadine12]

Thanks Chris. What has confused me is the notice says nothing about a conviction - just states that it is a notice of registration of unpaid fixed penalty as a fine. As I said I thought I saw somewhere that it would be removed from the register if paid in 28 days, any ideas about this?
Yes it was unlucky, we have had a nightmare with these yellow lines to be honest. They have knocked about 15 grand off the value of the property. They put them in throughout the village despite having about 300 complaints as its a main road with literally no where else to park. Its now extremely dangerous as I have to walk a long way to the car with two babies under 2 with part of the road having no pavement. And these lines were supposed to be for community safety!! The police or the council are not interested whatsoever. We have now had another fine, which I am tempted to go to court about given that under the no waiting order we are supposed to have time for unloading...but I am afraid it will just result in another fine!!

[Buenchico]

Thanks for the reply.

While trying to research an answer to your question about the '28 days rule', I've been given grounds to rethink my original answer.

My answer was based largely upon an analogy with speeding. If you get a fixed penalty notice you don't acquire a criminal record but if you're convicted before a court you do. However this link suggests that it's not only a fixed penalty notice that 'keeps you in the clear' (with regard to a criminal record) but also any subsequent action relating to that notice:
http://www.cjsonline.gov.uk/offender/community _sentencing/fine/index.html

So it's possible that I was wrong. Since your fine is apparently not regarded as a 'conviction', it may well not be recorded by the CRB. (However, as I'm sure that you're aware - given the nature of your job - an enhanced CRB check can show up anything which any relevant agency thinks should appear, not just convictions).

Either way, I'm still confident that you've got nothing to worry about. Have a word with your boss - your profession is largely about offering help and support to people so it doesn't seem unreasonable to expect a bit of support from your boss ;-)

As regards the '28 day' thing, the only references I can find suggest that there was a trial scheme in place (which made reference to a 28 day period, similar to the one you refer to), which was scheduled to end in 2005 but was extended to 2006. (I can't find any later references).

Chris

[north star]

Chris, would it help or matter if nadine confirmed wether she has received a fixed penalty notice (ie from the police for a parking offence) or a penalty charge notice for a parking offence (ie a council parking ticket). My understanding is that in the latter case she would have absolutely nothing to worry about.