Do you know what it means by non recordable criminal offence? I am in a professional where I am obliged to declare any criminal conviction to the professional regulatory body and any criminal conviction will mean that I will lose my professional licence and job for good!! I will lose my livelihood! So I am very worried about this summons I recevied recently and decided to fight and pleaded not guilty to the summons. I read about the " caution " bit above. Similiar to you, I was not given a " full " caution "- I was not told I did not have to say anything and that I was entitled to a solicitor. Does this mean the statement they obtained from me is inadmissable in court? Also before the interview took place, the inspector promised me that fare evasion is not a criminal offence- it is a civil matter like a parking offence, the underground would send me a form, where I plead guilty or not guilty. The inspector said that if I plead not guilty in the form, then I will l have to go to court and pay a £1000 fine. If I plead guilty, I will just have to pay a £100 fine. Obviously now I know it is totally NOT TRUE. I was sort of "tricked" into making a confession statement!! I mentioned this in my comments to the form received from the Underground but they just ignored it! Should I mention this in court and what would the judge do? Would be grateful for your advice.

I am in a similar situation. I was stopped by an inspector for using someone's card. I have now received a summons from the magistrate court. How come you did not get a criminal record? How did you manage this? I thought if you plead guilty, you will get a criminal conviction/ record. Would like to hear from you.